I have written about this work a few times and talked about it as well. For obvious reasons, I believe the education for girls is extremely important. I have even tried to sell this work in support Because I am Girl, with limited success. The work is timely, now, with the me too and time’s up movements, but I find my feelings toward the 11 bodies of work in this series is changing or maybe I have become introspective.
My heart breaks for the girls who are denied education due to culture, strife or war, but I also have to understand how the work relates to my story. I need to take full ownership of my work.
Quite a few pieces in the Disbound series are actually my story.
Work like 3 Hail Mary’s which speaks to being raised in a strict, (2 of my aunts were/are nuns), Catholic household only to be told at a very young age, after the fear of god was perfectly instilled, we are not going to church any more.
Fairy Tales and Tying Knots references the princess complex. They reference the dichotomy of my early life expectations to conform to a traditional woman’s role, when in fact, reality for me, was the need to be self-sufficient and support myself as an entrepreneur and business owner.
A number of pieces are demonstrative of 50’s values. Like the Twin Beds used in early TV shows and movies, because babies came from storks, don’t you know.
I believe that I use books and objects to tell my story because my love of books was a gift from my mother and the reuse and repurpose of materials and objects was a gift from my father. My parents did not have a happy marriage, but these 2 gifts are happily married in my work. That makes me happy.
My work has progressed or better said, has repurposed itself. I did a series back in 2009 called All in My Head. It was a series of cast encaustic heads with found objects. I had a really hard time basing the work. To the point of giving up and letting the heads simply float off the wall. Last year, and I can’t quite put my finger on how this came about, but I started combining the books with the heads. By doing so I was able to finish each of their stories. I continue to work with the heads and it has been very gratifying to be able to give each of these personable pieces their true voice.
They say that all artists’ work references themselves and I have been accused of being over the top with some of my references, especially my older work. I hope this work has found a more neutral grounding. By that I mean a place where to work can be appreciated as much for its aesthetic value as for it’s message.
My work is full of visual puns, double entendre, symbolism and satire. It references the dichotomy of my early life expectations to conform to a traditional woman’s role, when in fact, reality for me, was the need to be self-sufficient and support myself as an entrepreneur and business owner. These contradictions allow me to expose my private self through veiled metaphor creating objects significant beyond function. The underlying message – the essence of my work – speaks to the roles and rights of girls and women.