Artist Statement
Since my start as a graduate student, I have almost exclusively used wood or steel, or a combination of them both, in all my pieces. When wood and steel are coupled, both materials react in a way that exaggerates the inherent qualities of the opposing medium. Steel brings out the warm soft glow and vibrancy of wood. Wood compliments the cold hardness and visual weighty qualities of steel. I appreciate this combination of the natural characteristics of wood with the mechanical and industrial traits of the steel. With my sculptural pieces, I am attempting to combine together both these “anthropomorphic”, or visceral, and “mechanomorphic¹” elements to “produce a type of organic machine²”.

Desiring to insinuate a type of narrative into my sculptures, I have recently begun to incorporate bookbinding elements with these other materials. Coupled with bookbinding is the immediate association with text. It is with this tool of communication that I attempt to hint or subtly suggest the idea or concept behind the piece. My efforts are to take something we tend to interact with in a two-dimensional way and transform it into a form that the viewer is encouraged and persuaded to interact with in a more three-dimensional manner.

¹Elizabeth Smith, “All Freedom in Every Sense” in Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective by Kari Dahlgren, ed., (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2003) 174.
²Mona Hadler, “Lee Bontecou’s Worldscapes” in Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective by Kari Dahlgren, ed., (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2003) 206.