University Libraries Promotion and Tenure Recognition

My sculptures are hybrid figurative forms mashed from multiple materials. Their materials make up toggles abstraction with figuration to have both sensual continuity and purposeful discord. This allows me to translate the figure not as a portrait or classical whole, but rather as an assemblage persona of our times. Patchwork is a verb usually attributed to quilt making; however, my sculptures use a similar Frankenstein piecework method. Louise Bourgeois’ artwork is exceptional by many standards and not surprisingly, she has been one of my biggest influences (our cat is even named after her!). Discovering this gave agency to cutting cloth that paralleled the way I had been cutting hard shell casts. Inspiration by her fabric works influenced many projects made between my associate and full professor ranks, including: Armor for White Light, a 10-layer wearable sewn from muslin and 10 years of drawings (2012–2014); a series of busts called Imperceptible Rupture (2014–2015), where I pieced clay sections of old rubber molds the same way I was using fabric; and a video titled Spillover, where I performed in Armor for White Light to make an entirely new drawing that moved on the cloth (2017). Referencing cloth through the agency of quilt making influenced a highly recognized solo exhibition at Smack Mellon titled Prince and the start of a large-scale social sculpture built from repurposed and donated fabrics from people in the United States and abroad, called Open Sky.