Artist Statement

Since my early childhood, I have moved home and country, collecting impressions of organic forms, which find their way into my art. From the subtle curve of an animal's back to the billowing waves of a hillside, part living creature and part elemental nature, my work often morphs elements together, giving life to mythological trees, sea-waves with human heads, singing spirals, and half-leaf, half-human reclining forms.
As a child growing up in the countryside, I was accustomed to finding only handmade things at home, from embroidered quilts and leather shoes to the soap we used. The slow-paced lifestyle in a family and village of craftsmen led me to my hands-on and nature-inspired approach to art. In past work as a sculpture therapist, I watched as clients recreated their self-image simply by modeling clay with their hands into spheres or cubes, working against the resistance of matter to make it their own, thereby integrating a newfound sense of self with their present life. I learned that stories shape us, but by working with our hands, we might reshape them. Reshaping the organic world into something fresh and equally "living" can be an empowering and very fulfilling experience.
In my sculpture practice, I aim to give expression to the fascinating worlds of life forces, soul qualities, and individual gestures in manifold biomorphic forms. Working with different materials, I extract pure-form elements, such as convex and concave, from natural figures and objects, freeing them from prior associations and meanings. A flower or a simple leaf can become a source of inspiration for surfaces varying in shape and movement, which combine to create something new. With a rounded starting point, I add on a variety of disparate angles, diverse curves, and twisting planes. I bring out particular tensions and transitions, gradually enlivening the form and imbuing it with feeling and personality.
From the introduction of Metamorphosis by J. W. Goethe, it reads, “He came to see in the leaf the germ of a plant's metamorphosis—“the true Proteus who can hide or reveal himself in all plant forms”— from the root and stem leaves to the calyx and corolla, to pistil and stamens.” All forms are connected and can morph from one to the other.
My personal inquiry into the human condition finds its expression in abstract sculpture series. A theme is explored through a metamorphic red thread in each series, in forms inspired by nature and archetypes. In the abstract sculptures I create, the viewer is free to imagine their own worlds and create their personal meaning.
As a child growing up in the countryside, I was accustomed to finding only handmade things at home, from embroidered quilts and leather shoes to the soap we used. The slow-paced lifestyle in a family and village of craftsmen led me to my hands-on and nature-inspired approach to art. In past work as a sculpture therapist, I watched as clients recreated their self-image simply by modeling clay with their hands into spheres or cubes, working against the resistance of matter to make it their own, thereby integrating a newfound sense of self with their present life. I learned that stories shape us, but by working with our hands, we might reshape them. Reshaping the organic world into something fresh and equally "living" can be an empowering and very fulfilling experience.
In my sculpture practice, I aim to give expression to the fascinating worlds of life forces, soul qualities, and individual gestures in manifold biomorphic forms. Working with different materials, I extract pure-form elements, such as convex and concave, from natural figures and objects, freeing them from prior associations and meanings. A flower or a simple leaf can become a source of inspiration for surfaces varying in shape and movement, which combine to create something new. With a rounded starting point, I add on a variety of disparate angles, diverse curves, and twisting planes. I bring out particular tensions and transitions, gradually enlivening the form and imbuing it with feeling and personality.
From the introduction of Metamorphosis by J. W. Goethe, it reads, “He came to see in the leaf the germ of a plant's metamorphosis—“the true Proteus who can hide or reveal himself in all plant forms”— from the root and stem leaves to the calyx and corolla, to pistil and stamens.” All forms are connected and can morph from one to the other.
My personal inquiry into the human condition finds its expression in abstract sculpture series. A theme is explored through a metamorphic red thread in each series, in forms inspired by nature and archetypes. In the abstract sculptures I create, the viewer is free to imagine their own worlds and create their personal meaning.