Artist Statement

The Process

 

I like to create a conversation within my work, a dialogue between the elements in the design. I am very passionate about the idea of memory and using opacity as a design mechanism to create the illusion of transcendence in time. Layering photos and illustrations, I create values and dimensions, providing different heights and movements that give the work depth and character.

I love natural elements in design. When creating, I think about blending my images of the natural world with art, photographs or man-made materials from the past.  I look at images and find a similarity within their design. I build an image from a pattern, color, texture or illustration, blending these details with photographs of Maine's native landscape.

I showcase the beauty of public-domain illustrations in my artwork and recognize the value and creativity in utilizing these resources responsibly. The open-access art is inspirational; it provides a glimpse into the artist's mind and their moment/place in this world and allows everyone to learn art, history and culture. It makes art accessible, inclusive and welcoming.

The Purpose

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By studying historical works of art, we learn about the people who produced them, how a country evolves, and how a historical legacy of cultural and socio-political events affects our current world.

 

Art in any form is like a visual narrative with a soul. I use these ideas when I design to share a moment from the past, bridging a timeline of human connections interpreted through art, photography and design, then infusing the image with my modern lens, creating a transcendent visual connection in time and emotion.

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The Interest

My work is inspired by the book Japan Day by Day by Edward Sylvester Morse. Born and raised in Maine, he was a shell collector, scientist, professor, zoologist, artist, and Museum Director at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. He was one of the great pioneers in the meeting and mutual appreciation of Western and Japanese culture during the turn of the century. He is known as the Father of Japanese archaeology.

 

Living on the coast of Maine, I can feel his connection to the natural landscape and appreciate Morse's charisma and stories of Old Japan, along with Japan's deep artistic influence on Western design and the Boston collectors during the Gilded Age in New England.

 

I am thankful for the NYPL Digital Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Peabody Essex Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art and the Internet Archive. I remain in awe and inspired by their collection of outstanding historical figures and their contributions to society.