Mixed media (a stretcher, found objects, acrylic paint, etc.)

24x48"

The long vertical composition is reminiscent of the vertical vanity mirror. The crack-like forms are symbolic and emotional, reflecting a wrought identity.

Mixed media.

24x24"

Mixed media (a stretcher, found objects, acrylic paint, etc.)

"My Brain Ain't Braining" was my mood at the time of titling. Now it is permanent.

Mixed media.

30x40x4"

Mixed media (a stretcher, found objects, acrylic paint, etc.)

I was 1 of 5 artists to exhibit at Blitz Art Gallery ("Breaking the Mold: A Multi-Sensory Experience") for Nuit Blanche Toronto 2023. I created "Cosmos" in response to the biomorphic soft sculptures created by fellow artist Hagop Ohannessian.

Materials include strips of canvas cloth, discarded paintings, reusable bags, foam mesh, cupboard liner, plastic, wire, ribbon, string, yarn, old socks, undergarments, and pages from a tea-stained paperback book that starred a glistening white unicorn on the cover.

Whether I was thinking about the unicorn or the sparkling Milky Way stretching across the sky, "Cosmos" seemed to be an appropriate title.

Mixed media.

24x23.80"

Mixed media (a stretcher, pool noodles, canvas, cupboard liner, yarn, string, found objects, acrylic paint, etc.)

"I'M PHOTOSYNTHESIZING" consists of a thrifted painting of flowers in a field, pool noodles, cupboard liner, yarn, string, reusable bags, and acrylic paint. The pool noodle symbolizes my need to relax and sun gaze (obviously with my eyes closed) while bathing in the warm orange glow. Like the flowers in the original painting – although ripped, shredded, and painted over – I like to imagine I am photosynthesizing.

Mixed media.

44x46"

Mixed media (a stretcher, yarn, canvas, cupboard liner, metal wire, reusable bags, found objects, acrylic paint, etc.)

I imagine watercolors flowering and spidering on damp paper, frost patterning a window, or dye feathering on fabric. It happens quickly. I may not forget whatever or whoever was on the other side of the window.

Mixed media.

20x24"

Mixed media (acrylic paint, an old stretcher, old paintings, ribbon, reusable bags, lanyards, metal wire, etc.)

With PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), I experience monthly 1-2 week long bouts of severe depression. Undiagnosed with PMDD and an anxiety disorder for years, this contributed to the many masks I wore throughout my life. I was ashamed of feeling unhappy and often wanting to die. I felt pain in my chest, struggled with digestive problems, and my shoulders were stiff with knots. I felt confused, complicated, and unfixable. The diagnosis in my mid-20s changed my life for the better. With medication and therapy, it’s been easier to function and feel love for all facets of myself. As I grow into my ever-shifting identity, I am trying to form new neural pathways.

Mixed media.

34x34"

Mixed media (a stretcher, acrylic paint, scraps of canvas, fabric, old paintings, ribbon, string, etc.)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I created the third artwork in my mixed-media sculpture series, "Dark Matter." 2021 was a year of improving my mental health and growing my art practice.

To declutter my apartment, I experimented with the material I had hoarded over the years, including string, yarn, wire, old paintings, canvas scraps, friendship bracelets, ribbons from gifts, and lanyards from numerous forgotten events.

Creating these sculptures reflected my journey of increased confidence, growth, experimentation, and playfulness. "Portals," as the definition implies, is about opportunity, transition, escapism, a gateway, a path and a place.

I also went out for walks every night during this strange time. I love to stargaze, and the decreased pollution made starlight visible from the city. As I contemplated the smallness of our planet, I also imagined the energy that connects every celestial body with the atomic universe.

Mixed media.

29x27"

Mixed media (a stretcher, mesh, yarn, canvas, string, cupboard liner, found objects, acrylic paint, etc.)

Mixed media.

36x36x14"

Mixed media (acrylic paint, an old stretcher, old paintings, canvas scraps, old clothes, a broken Swiffer sweeper, old toothbrushes, produce mesh, string, plastic utensils, wooden chopsticks, inkless pens and markers, etc)

Making “Dark Matter” was an outlet for the anxious energy inside me. 2020 brought unemployment, instability, heartbreak, climate anxiety, COVID-19, isolation, an existential crisis, and other changes which amplified my depression and anxiety. Because of quarantine (and in a small effort to help nature), I experimented with found materials (including a stretcher, old paintings, canvas scraps, clothes, a Swiffer sweeper, toothbrushes, mesh, string, utensils, chopsticks, pens, and markers). It was also an excuse to declutter my apartment without throwing anything away.

To calm my mind, I focused on the obsessive act of winding, intertwining, and tying for hundreds of hours, channeling this energy into the material so that it eventually threatened to escape and explode from the suffocating confines of the box. This heavy object represents a chaotic internal world, an anxious brain, and our need for connection. It also seems to resemble the virus which I attempt to contain.