portfolio

::sculpture

::mixed media

::installations

Zia Crystal Grid at Castle Rock

A site specific "rapprochement installation". July 2016. Castle Rock, Kansas

A Crystal grid is made by the placement of stones in a geometric pattern for the specific purpose of directing energy toward a goal and Zia is the symbol of New Mexico.(Zia definition courtesy of JessicaWhitten.com):The people of the Zia Pueblo in New Mexico regard the sun as sacred. Their symbol, a circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions, is painted on ceremonial vases, used to introduce newborns to the sun, and is featured on the New Mexico state flag. Four is a sacred number of the Zia, and can be found repeated in the points radiating from the circle. The number four is embodied in:
The compass (north, south, east, and west)
The seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn and winter)
The periods of each day (morning, noon, evening and night)
The stages of life (childhood, youth, middle years and elderhood)
The sacred aspects one must develop (a strong body, a clear mind, a pure spirit, and a devotion to the well-being of others).

My intention was to direct energy in and out of the space with the intention of healing the earth.

Fort Hays Gorilla Girls Fill the Space

A performance involving an age range of women painting themselves with clay slip and then making body prints on a roll of pink paper. This performance is about a women's acceptance of her aging body in regards to society's view that women should be young and beautiful in order to be important. This also reflects the goals of the Guerrilla Girls Group, working to promote women in the arts, dismissing the idea that "women need to naked to get into the Met Museum". Video of Performance can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/H3LfI32yBuw

Materials used: Slip, paper, video, masks, baby pool. Filmed by Eric Stumon at Fort Hays State University 2016.

"The Flower Curtain at Jellison Bridge"

July 2016, Fort Hays State Univeristy, Kansas

Myself and Heiða Halldórsdóttir, installed "The Flower Curtain at Jellison Bridge" on the Fort Hays State University.
We hung twine from the rafters of the bridge's infrastructure and hand dipped flower petals in casting slip. The Flowers were adhered to the twine with just the slip itself.
The twine hung at different lengths and a small opening was left in the middle for the bridge patrons to pass thru.

Directly underneath the curtain was a thick gold glitter line used to represent a threshold.

The sparkly line was meant to signify that once crossed, the magic would happen.

Left hanging overnight, we returned the following day to see how far the magic gold dust had traveled.

"Abduction By Moonlight"

The Moon- a Tarot Card Enchantment Installation at Rarick Hall, Hays Kansas
Materials and processes: stoneware, glazes, terra sigillata, slip, press molds, fired to cone 2, branches, wire, vinyl, beads, metal, chain

This enchantment installation is a physical depiction of my version of “The Moon” Tarot Card. What happens in the moonlight, what does the moon witness?
In this magical forest many unexplained events occur; there is a transcendence between two worlds shown in this reading. Here we experience deep mystical and terrifying realities beyond our ordinary senses. In this state of expanded consciousness, we cannot always control what happens.