Artist Statement

My work is an examination of activism in history, exploring the relationship between past and present-day social and political issues of racism, women’s rights, migration, pollution, and native peoples’ rights. My current practice centers on mixed-media portraits of key human rights historical figures.

My work asks questions about the history of activism and how it impacts contemporary attitudes and relationships, inviting the viewer to consider how we can create a more balanced, empathetic, and inclusive society for all.

Earlier in my career, over a span of fifteen years, I was employed as a Production Director at several national advertising and marketing agencies. This experience profoundly influenced my art practice. Managing the creative components of color and print required an in-depth understanding of how photography, color, ink, and pixels work together. The spark of my interest in pointillism and mosaic patterns was ignited.

I reproduce portraits arranged in conceptual layers. The subject matter determines the materials to be used. Each portrait begins with a collaged background of photographs, retouched and enhanced, related to the theme. These choices require detailed research and often lead to new areas of interest, experimentation and practice.

The portraits are then placed on this background using map pins, sewing thimbles, and compasses, as examples. These domestic objects create a recurring pattern reminiscent of the dots used in high resolution photography as seen in newspapers, magazines, and computer-generated images. The result is a complex pixelated mosaic patterned portrait.

I have just completed a portrait of a George Orwell, placed on a background of appropriated photographs of newspaper headline signs, and constructed of over 2,500 vintage wooden letterpress letters, hand-painted over 100,000+ tiny circles to render his face. For Harriet Tubman, turn-of-the-century feminist and abolitionist, I deployed a background of the American twenty-dollar bill and constitutional amendments dealing with freedom and equal rights, and used thousands of mini-compasses to produce the portrait. Right now, I’m working on a 32”x 32” portrait of John Lewis, using actual sized “I Voted” stickers in a mosaic pattern and hand painting to create his face against a backdrop of key-lines representing gerrymandering.

I am influenced by Chuck Close’s portraits, organized into gridded compositions where pixelated mosaic blends with juxtaposed color to create a unified image. His Self Portrait and Portrait of Cindy Sherman inspired me to explore pointillism. The precision of pointillism allows for loose brushstrokes to near photographic accuracy. Korean artist Jihyun Park creates stunning and subtle reverse-pointillism pieces by burning holes into paper with lit incense sticks. Gavin Rain creates neo-pointillism with precise dots of paint. These artists and others inspired me to create pixelated photographic images using “dots” that are images themselves, or objects of symbolic meaning, that provide another point of reference.