Mixed Media Reimagined: Scraps to Wonders
Since our natural world is built from numerous complex and diverse elements, I like to emphasize this by creating meaningful mixed-media art collages. I also enjoy experimenting with how combinations of geometry, color, and texture can trigger emotion, so that I seek to understand what the mind perceives as beautiful, interesting and satiating.
By incorporating uneven textures, shine and layered materials, I aim to create the illusion of organic life—blurring the line between the imagined and the real. Oftentimes, I peel away a bit of the top layers to reveal the inner materials beneath.
Found objects from streets and trash stimulate my mind to consider how they might be incorporated into my art—it’s a form of problem solving. I once volunteered and exhibited with a non-profit organization, Building Materials Resource Center (now called Boston Building Resources), which promoted reuse. Its warehouse housed donated and re-purposed materials for home improvement. The goal of the program was to inspire others to see trash in fresh ways. We used supplies from the organization to create art that celebrated recycling.
I thought about where each discarded item had originated and empathized with them. Why had it become garbage? While in an Artist-in-Residence program in Amsterdam, I became increasingly fascinated by abandoned scraps on streets. I strived to observe what most people overlooked. These discarded objects pushed me to see from new perspectives. When I grew, so did my art—and vice versa.
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