Pattern of Refinement, incorporates drawing, printmaking, sculptural objects, performance, and viewer participation. This series consists of the installation of three circular, mixed-media drawings (Cyclical Pattern, Mingled Pattern, & Pattern of Refinement) and their accoutrements, displayed on the floor in the exhibition space. This work draws the viewers’ attention to obsession and frustration with etiquette rules and issues around class divisions in our culture. The drawings function as spaces similar to the three rings of a circus. Each drawing, on treated canvas, measuring 6 feet in diameter, depicts a round, fine dining table, seen from above.
Cyclical Pattern, is a realistic charcoal rendering of the given table, setting the stage for the trio on the whole. Being displayed directly on the floor counterbalances the drawing’s elegance by bringing feet in contact with the table surface.
Mingled Pattern, an abstracted, graphite drawing of the same table—mingles a mass of delicate floral patterns together on its surface. Similar to a child’s large play set, this piece incorporates 228 faux china ‘playing pieces’ of serigraphy prints adhered to wood tiles. Encouraged to ‘play house’ within the gallery space, the viewer imagines their own interaction with fine bone china.
Pattern of Refinement, the title for the complete trio and the final piece, is a screen print interpretation of the same table laid with a set of Haviland china. For the performance element, each piece of china is balanced on the head in turn as I walked the edge of the large print. This piece combines elements of the tragedy of breaking a piece of the family china and the once more common exercise of balancing books on the head to perfect posture. As I perform, each broken saucer brings me further from the ideal of a full unblemished set of family china, but closer to the refinement of her posture and balance.
contemplating a need for indulgence
"Contemplating a Need for Indulgence," tent form, velvet cushion, flocked wallpaper, black sand, tea set; 2009
Contemplating a Need for Indulgence is a large installation paying tribute to the aesthetics of the classic Victorian parlor. A tent form at the far end of the space acts as a large skirt beckoning the viewer to crawl underneath onto a velvet cushion to play tea with the ornate child’s tea set. Hand-printed flocked wallpaper covers the walls to a wainscoting of black grosgrain ribbon. In the style of Indian rangoli, an act of Hindu prayer, the floor has been meditatively decorated with patterns using black sand.
syzygy (tea tides)
"Syzygy (tea tides) 1," graphite, collage, & gold leaf on board, 6" x 6", 2009
Within this phase of my artistic work, I am visually examining the rhythm of one daily ritual that revolves around a single Haviland china teacup and its saucer.
(48 drawings total)
india prints
"Table Meditation 2," wood engraving, serigraphy, and chine colle, 15" x 20", 2008
The India Prints series includes two sets of four prints that began as wood engravings blocks completed during a Artist Residency at Artspace India in Kolkata in November 2007.
The Rupees series was directly inspired by rupee notes and the arches used in Mogul architecture. The central image for each of the four prints is a two-inch by three-inch wood engraving that combines and indulges in these two design areas. The prints own an abundance of color, pattern, and layering to comment on the overall visual intensity of India culture even in something as seemingly insignificant as their paper currency.
The Table Meditation prints contemplate this same visual abundance. The central image for each of the four prints is a three-inch by four-inch wood engraving that depicts a dining table, whose silhouette is again connected to the Mogul arch, set for two individuals and seen from above. The engravings show a mapping of table movement or conversation between two individuals. The astrological maps and rules that exist within Hindu culture inspired these mapping elements. The engravings are then contained within an ordered chaos of color and pattern.
she is learning to use her inside voice…
"she is learning to use her inside voice VIII," lithography and serigraphy, 15" x 20", 2007
Within this series of lithography and serigraphy prints, I focused on the refinement of restraint in image and in practice. They are representations of vintage hankies, quietly hanging. The backgrounds are printed with understated white-on-white patterns.
(12 prints total)
everyday china
"Everyday China (foundation)," charcoal on paper, 19.25” x 26.5”, 2007
My ongoing drawing series, Everyday China, set the foundation for the Pattern of Refinement work. The charcoal self-portraits look at class structure through family upbringing, questioning my connection in name to the Haviland China industry. They wonder, visually, what my life may have been like if I had been raised using fine bone china daily. They also mark a more indulgent use of visual pattern within my work, as a formal element and a symbol of the domestic realm.
These dark images, mired in a sea of repeated pattern, become an obsessive dance with materialism, daily ritual, identity, and class structure.
The following images are from the body of work, Choose Your Weapon, a combination of sculptural objects and charcoal drawings. Within this body of work, I have converted objects into weapons or armor for use in battles between the classes. Employing scale-change and placement as significant devices, larger-than-life sewing pins challenge the viewer to have a perceptual shift. You are invited to rethink how you relate to these everyday objects. The pins lose their intimate association and take on a menacing quality. The drawings included in the project depict a woman trying to protect herself from the world, with the only items at her disposal: a string of pearls, china platters and teacups, hankies, and assorted garments. She becomes Tweedledee or Tweedledum, foolishly strapping all her useless possessions to her as she prepares for “battle”.
