1. Please, tell me about your artwork.
“Basically, the work focuses mainly on the importance of materiality and how the paint interacts with collage materials. Different mediums, different combinations of paint.”
“This is the culmination of the work I’ve done in the past year. I use a lot of intuitive processes, so whenever I start, it’s with paint. My work was inspired by paint pours [like] Carrie Moyer [and] Helen Frankenthaler and kind of just really seeing the way that the paint flows on the surface and then going from there.”
“And then [I respond] to some of the more incidental occurrences that happen on the surface. So, I try to work with materials from my studio, that way I have this visual vocabulary or library that I can draw from. And then just incorporating them into my work as I see them, and just having those materials available to me as I see fit.”
2. Did you create a collective group of pieces intentionally for this presentation, or were they chosen at random?
“Well its actually pretty interesting that some of the works here are from my first quarter at SCAD. While I’m working, I work on a few pieces at a time. When I’m working in this process, I have a lot of drying time that I have to deal with, so I have several [pieces] at the same time and they were just being made specifically for this show, developing my body of work.”
“And you know, there were some taken out. But I tried to keep the more recent body of work because I think working on them all at the same time really adds to the cohesiveness of the show.”
3. Did you have control over the presentation of the exhibition in regards to which pieces hang beside others?
“Well, I had an original plan. I had it all planned out at first. Then, when I got the space and started putting it all together, it was a lot of decision making and color relationships, composition relationships, proportions etc.”
4. What was the most difficult step leading up to the show?
“I think one of the most difficult parts of curating this show is putting all of the colors together. But that wasn’t something I was willing to sacrifice. I clearly love color.”
“I make my own associations like that while I’m making a piece. This reminds me of that, or it’s drawn from an image, or a memory, or something like that. But I think it’s really important to take my ego out of it. Once you get to a point where you’re letting those associations go aside, then I can deal with everything more formally.”
“So that’s a really big aspect too, the compositional and design aspects.”
5. What career would you like to pursue with painting?
“It would be ideal if I could just paint and keep working on that. I’d like to teach at a college level. I taught a few years before I came (to SCAD) for grad school. With my education background, maybe I can continue on that.”
6. How did you come to decide the age range of students you would you like to teach?
“I taught K-8, so it was a little bit difficult. That’s how you can figure out your whole teaching style and philosophy and all that. Sometimes you just need to go back and get your certification, but that’s a good place to start: with kids.”
7. At what point did you begin your education at SCAD?
“September 2013, and It’s been a great experience so far.”
