 |
These wall works are produced with modified versions of the toy Super Spirograph.
Coming Soon |
|
|
 |
The lines in these drawings are produced with elements from the children’s toy: Super Spirograph. Metaphorically, they can be seen as the rhythms of a pulse, cycles of respiration or habitual repetitions of daily life. |
|
|
 |
These small format works are colour studies for larger pieces. Each pattern is produced with the use of the Spirograph toy then hand painted in gouache. |
|
|
 |
This yet unrealized project was initially proposed as a pavilion for the exhibition Artefact 2007 – Urban Sculptures to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Expo 67 in Montréal. The rainbow is intended to symbolize both the optimistic energy present during the World Exposition and my own as a recently established resident of Montreal. Included here are my initial explorations with coloured glass. |
|
|
 |
These paintings play between the abstract and figurative as each individual panel is a monochrome while the organized collection evokes the illusion of sky. The grid formation is suggestive of windowpanes that fragment the view while the space between each panel is essential for the illusion of a “skyscape” to function. The “window” is meant to act as a portal to another place/psychological space. Interior and exterior can be confounded; the perception of our surroundings can mirror an emotional state. Gazing out the window is often an escape in moments of dreaming, longing, contemplation or in search of inspiration. Conversely, the exterior environment, weather and the power of nature can affect our interior psychological state. Clouds can evoke a mood of gloom, while the dawn can evoke optimistic sentiments, and clear blue skies, cheerfulness. Aspects of chance, luck and play (the puzzle) are a major part of the production. |
|
|
 |
This series developed as a direct response to my previous project I want to be a princess and with a renewed use of encaustic paint. Each oval monochrome can be considered as a portrait of a different emotional state. |
|
|
 |
Initially produced during a residency at Les Subsistances in Lyon, France this project explores the relationship between what one wears and one’s identity through the production of self portraits. The articles of clothing normally hang in my closet unused or were worn for brief moments of self scrutiny behind closed doors. The act of producing these paintings - privately standing in front of a mirror - reflects my own relationship with these garments emphasizing the awkward tension associated with “dressing up” and the anxious act of looking, being looked at and the desire to look good - voyeurism, narcissism and self-consciousness. The titles suggest the fantasies I would like to project/present while wearing these “costumes”.
This work reflects an interest in the relationships of production and consumption: being the active producer (the painter) and the product (the portrait), the consumer (of fashion… status…) and the consumed (the object). Also considered, is how self is constructed and defined by appearance and the limitations of that presentation. The repetition of portraits is meant to emphasize the complexity (and possible loss) of an identity constructed on the desire to please another. |
|
|
 |
These lace-like low relief paintings have titles that often define both an aspect of the process of their production and a psychological state of mind. The patterns in these paintings are produced by repetitively cutting into the wax surface with a cookie cutter. The cut shape is then removed with specially made tools. |
|
|
 |
8000+ objects, each individually cut, painted and repetitively dipped in coloured wax. The association to food and the hand-crafted nature of these objects references “labours of love” and the desire to nurture; the act of mothering, homemaking, and care giving (displaced from the domestic environment and relocated within the imaginary realm of my art practice). The excessive/obsessive production of sweet objects is intended to emphasize the relationship between producing a representation of oneself through the act of producing for another and the desire to please and make pleasing.
A honeycomb motif has been consistently used to organize the many flower shaped objects. While each presentation of the work has differed due to the colour arrangement that has produced both fields filled with various larger flower forms and more controlled repetitive patterns suggestive of wallpaper. |
|
|
 |
wallflower n. 1 Informal, a person, especially a girl or woman, who sits by the wall at a dance instead of dancing. 2 a perennial plant with sweet-smelling yellow, orange, or red flowers, found on walls.
Pretty, pleasing, sweet and sentimental qualities often associated with the genre of flower painting and considered derogatory are emphasized in these decorative paintings. The vibrant colours in these paintings will not allow them to “sit quietly” on the wall. This work extends on the theme of asserting a position - the desire to take up space, to be noticed and heard. |
|
|
 |
The first series of encaustic paintings produced with cookie cutters. These pieces were presented in two exhibitions, Breathing Space and Light Matters with works by Mark Mullin. |
|
|
 |
Two different aspect of my practice, observational oil painting and the material exploration of waxes are married in these diptychs. |
|
|
 |
Methods and tools primarily used in the kitchen are combined with the materials; cold wax and encaustic paint to create works that resembled sweets (cakes, cookies and candies). These transposed techniques I learned as a child during privileged periods of time spent with my grandma in her kitchen. |
|
|
 |
The desire to take up space, to be noticed and heard or conversely the desire to disappear is explored through the abundance of paintings of the word “NO” embedded in the richly textured surfaces of this installation. The varying sizes and depths each painting protrudes from the wall can be considered as records of individual attempts to assert a presence yet the fragile surface pattern, the muted pastel colours and the almost indistinguishable pronouncement of “NO” are weak and silent reflecting an incapacity to articulate. The repetition of the suppressed statement “NO” in a random configuration on an expansive wall is intended to emphasize a sense of necessity and urgency no matter how futile the results. The containment and lack of impact of the word “NO” is meant to suggest a struggle to assert one’s position or possibly the silence that masks domestic violence.
Each painting`s surface and sides are covered with cold wax and paint that has been applied with a palette knife. The results are low relief surfaces that reference aspects of the domestic environment such as ornaments and food. The images of ”NO” become visible with the patience of extended viewing. |
|
|
 |
This project began while shopping in my local grocery store. While facing the shelves of canned tomatoes I automatically picked up the one my mom always purchases.
When is the freedom to choose exercised? How is choice determined? When there is so much apparent choice how often is it determined by learned patterns that go unquestioned? And is there really a choice? I considered these questions through depictions of an ever-growing collection of different labels of a single consumer product available to the Canadian consumer. (Having consumed all the different types I became aware that the only real difference was that some were “Italian” tomatoes.) |
|
|
 |
I was attracted to these familiar objects as subjects for paintings due to their unique patterns and light reflective qualities. These fine china cups and saucers, originally my grandmothers and now apart of my mother’s collection were only used on rare and highly charged occasions when “presenting one’s best” was important. The decorative aspect of these objects contributes to the festive quality of the occasion while their emptiness mirrors the shallowness of a first impression. The bird’s eye view, the circle within the square of the support and the grid presentation are intended to further highlight the formal constrains of the social act and ritual of having tea. |
|
|
