Artist Statement

I explore art and design in a way that merges natural and geometric elements through a variety of mediums, including fiber arts and cut paper works. My artistic practice is a celebration of my Native American heritage and the beauty that is found within it. Finding inspiration from the highly embellished outfits of Native American Powwow dancers, I create work using beads, fringe, and other forms of adornment to create pieces that allow the viewer moments of reflection and rest.

Artist Statement

Working with kin gathered from places called home, installations become multi-vocal sites of conversation that tell simultaneous stories of ecology, relationship, and self-location. Collaborating within the limitations of season, cycle, and change, the emergent work is always dictated by the needs and realities of time, place, and ecosystem. Every kin participating in the creation of the art has its own story, agency, and right to return. As such, every collaborator and its point of origin is logged, both in physical location for its post-install return, as well as in emotional memory which tells the stories of how relationship came to be.

Artist Statement

My work embodies the effects of the diaspora and displacement of peoples from their home cultures and histories. It’s a slow process of rebuilding knowledge of a larger family history, while learning about indigenous histories and how they have been shaped, lost, or muted.

Raised outside the Cherokee Nation, I was always intrigued and proud of my matrilineal heritage, but had no direct means of learning the culture. My Great-Grandmother would talk about life in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, but I was too young to know what that meant and ask questions before she passed. I also grew up seeing Cherokee-made baskets my Grandma owned and prized- telling us about her friend who made them, yet I never saw how they were made.

These fiber weavings were originally born out of an overabundance of bias tape given to me by various family members, or bundled at garage sales and thrift stores, that needed a purpose. I was reading a lot about Cherokee Basketry and thought…why can’t I weave in my own way? Figuring out a few patterns from photographs, I quoted them using ribbon, bias tape, and various other fibers on hand. I’ve since refined my process, though still using found and gifted materials; often drafting my own combinations of existing patterns or entirely designing my own. I approach these weavings as paintings with fiber, adding or subtracting color as I go and as the painting takes shape.

Skewing happens due to varying thicknesses of fabric, or I leave skips I made in the historical patterns I’m quoting instead of taking them out. These are my manifestation of life as someone in a diaspora who is proud of a heritage, yet left to reteach herself instead of sitting among elders or having family members passing down skills. Mixing contemporary materials and compositions, while including time-tested Cherokee aesthetics is a signature of my personal journey and identity.