Until I began a career in motherhood, my textile and sculptural-based practice focused on sentimentality and the personal objects that we hold onto regardless of their utility. I have previously worked with unfinished and abandoned craft projects and more recently was creating soft sculptures from worn wedding dresses. I would literally take apart the donated and reclaimed dresses to metaphorically reveal the body and its connotations underneath.
When I first had Olive, I intended to continue this soft sculpture practice, but new motherhood left little time and mental space for art making. My studio is not child proof, nap time is unpredictable, and I was just too exhausted by end of day. After participating in a residency specifically for artist parents, I embraced studio motherhood, resulting in a practice that includes my daughter. Works range from drawings made on the playroom floor with Olive, to studio based works using materials kept from Olive’s infancy (swaddle blankets, wiping clothes, outgrown onesies) .
I am a Peterborough, Ontario based artist. My work has been shown in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and London, Ontario. I have worked as a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Drawing & Painting at OCAD University and taught adults at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I hold a MFA in studio art and an MA in art history and curatorial studies from Western University. On occasion, I also run Lilliput Gallery, a tiny exhibition space in an Anne of Green Gables replica dollhouse.