For me, making art is a necessity for survival, like drinking water or getting enough sleep. When I’m not creating or at least thinking about creating, I am lost. As a certified introvert, I best express myself through visual art. When I am in the middle of making a new work, I am in the zone during the pockets of time I am able to carve out for complete immersion into making. Please note “pockets of time.” As a mother of young kids, a high school art teacher, and a leader of my local, this takes planning and a lot of support and understanding from my husband.
For someone who makes creating and showing work a priority, it’s funny how little confidence I have in what I make and put out into the world. It’s a classic creative problem, right? Always feeling like an imposter - not as original or experienced as everyone else in the room.
Being accepted into the NJ Arts Annual this year was a big boost for me. 100 artists (out of 800) applicants were chosen for the exhibit this year. The theme Mother Nature vs Human Nature resonated with me and a concept for this work emerged quickly.
My work, Other Nature, examines the human inclination to settle in areas that Mother Nature never intended for human inhabitants. 130 monoprinted houses translate to cascading rain or a cyclone from a distance and will respond to human movement with gentle swaying and rotation. The stoneware vessel is literally made from earth and the cracked edge conjures the dichotomy of beauty and destruction.
Other Nature 2022 detail
Here’s to less doubt and more confidence in what I put out into the world.