I currently have work on view at Ejecta Projects which is located in downtown Carlisle, PA. Due to Covid-19 there wasn’t an opening reception and there will not be a closing reception. You can view the works in person, with a mask on during the week and weekend fortunately! I’m very thankful for being apart of this show, with 20 other talented artists (who I wish I could have met!). I’ve spent the last three years post-grad working tirelessly, trying to find a direction, a rhythm and consistency within my art making practice. Over the last three years, I’ve made plenty of work I’m not proud of and a handful of pieces I am an incredibly proud of, Fraktur Portal #2 being one of them! This work on paper, made of gouache and black walnut ink, came about in the late fall of 2020. I spent one-week at Oak Spring Garden Foundation as an Alumni Artist in Residence in October 2020. During those six days, I worked non-stop making work with my handmade inks on paper. Those drawings became the seeds that grew into what my work is now, 8 months later and still going strong! Scatter Terrain is about landscape, fragmentation and isolation. 2020 was a very isolating time for most people. I live alone so I understand isolation as both friend and foe very well. 2020 expounded on those aches and pains from loneliness to the gaping distance I felt from being away from family for half the year. I craved natural spaces. I craved fresh air and birdsong and leaves under my feet. I fed my cravings and muted my emotional pains by painting in my studio constantly. When I came up for air, I realized what I’ve made over the last 8 months has felt more true to me then ever before. Fraktur Portal #2 along with its companion pieces were my “lightbulb” moment. Needless to say, this work on paper is sacred to me.
I want to thank Shannon and Anthony, the owner’s and curator’s of Ejecta Projects gallery. It felt good to be included in a show for the first time in three years (a lot of time and money goes into applying for shows you don’t get into). They are kind people, running a stunning gallery in a very cozy, PA small town. We need more art spaces like this in the world! There are many days where I feel like my work will never be seen or appreciated or collected. It’s a very real anxiety I imagine all artists feel constantly. It’s a real flare of hope when your work gets noticed. I’m so thankful and I can’t wait to see the exhibition in person in a few weeks!
*the below image is of a really wonderful write up about my piece that you can find on Ejecta Projects website. Each artist has a paragraph highlighting their work. Thanks Shannon!
