"Shelter 8" Artwork

I have been making art since I was very young, and used art-making as a way to manage my anxiety as a little girl. Around age five, I used to doodle on white mailing envelopes and coffee filters using bright Magic Markers. And I would take chubby wax Crayons, peel the paper off, and scrape the sides of them on the lip of a jar. Watching the colorful shavings drop into the jar, I would create a work of art with the layers of colors. I didn't realize it at the time, and just thought it was something fun and beautiful to do. But, this was the beginning of my obsession with color and beauty.

I went to art college in Philadelphia and studied painting, drawing, and photography. I fell in love with all of these mediums, but ultimately chose photography as my path of study. However, I was never satisfied with just a photograph, and always wanted to incorporate my love of paint and mark-making into my photographic work.

I created my first collage series in college as a way to manage and process the heavy emotions surrounding my relationship with my mother. To this day, that body of work is my most cherished. And this is how my love of collage began.

Currently, I am an artist, creating and working in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I construct small and delicate collages on paper using my own photography (usually color Xeroxes of my images, but sometimes original photographs), found images, paint, colored pencil, graphite, and other materials. I also draw on occasion and try not to put myself into any particular medium box. I make what feels right and I make what makes me feel better in the moment.

Influences/Inspiration: Cy Twombly, William Eggleston, Gerhard Richter, Édouard Vuillard, Deborah Roberts