About

I was born near Chicago but lived in rural Illinois for many years before returning to the city. The openness of the Illinois landscape and its expansive sky is inspirational and experiencing it has deeply affected how I view the world. Living in and travelling through the vast farmlands of Illinois made me sensitive to the ways fundamental components of nature, such as light, wind and surface interact to create an experience I describe as spiritual. Upon moving back to Chicago I noticed that the city’s industrial architecture and infrastructure affected me in the same spiritual way. Having identical reactions to these seemingly opposite landscapes inspired me to look at the social and spatial differences they have and to question what I think determines a quality life.

My creative practice includes sculpture, drawings, paintings and prints that challenge a viewer to think about their worldview and their life’s expectations and values. The artworks resemble industrial architecture, abstract figures, or totemic objects. They are inspired by factories, implements, anthropology, spirituality and classical architecture. Industry seems separate from nature, but they are directly connected in that people use industrial processes to harness and control the natural world in order to support contemporary life. Some of these artworks explore relationships between objects and desires, while others challenge viewers through engagements with nature and the spiritual realm. The crux of my work is not a debate between the impacts of rural and urban life but an attempt to encourage sensitive reactions from insensitive objects.