My work considers the complicated relationship between people and nature. My research begins by collecting found natural detritus on daily walks. It is followed by documentation, organization, and finally implementation of the collected archive. 

While collecting, exploring, and creating, I encounter my own vitiation in nature. This leads me to nurture what is around me and long for what we have lost. My feelings of anemoia extend to nature that I have not encountered - extinct animals, undiscovered wildlife, and habitats that natural disasters absorb. The archive has a life of its own. It is constantly growing, shrinking, and transforming with each discovery and application to the creative process. It leads me to question people’s interference in and mediation of our environments.

My work, is influenced by the Dutch Vanitas paintings from the mid-1600’s. These paintings were an ordered and controlled use of nature that were meant to convey a message to the viewer. The message was that “life is transient” and the meaning of Vanitas is “in vain”.  I have also been influenced by photos of natural disasters, the writings of Jean Baudrillard and William Cronon, walks on a nature trail near my house, and travel. 

Education

M.F.A. Ceramics.Purdue University.2021

B.A. Art Education.Art History.2003

EXPERIENCE

2022-Present.Art Educator.West Lafayette School Corporation.West Lafayette Jr.-Sr.High School. Ceramics.Painting.AP Art History.AP Studio

2018-2021.Limited-Term Lecturer.Purdue University.Supervisor of Art Education Student Teachers

2021-2022.Instructor.Tippecanoe School Corporation.Wea Ridge Middle School

2018-2020.Instructor.Introduction to Ceramics.Purdue University

2019-2019.Instructor.Introduction to Sculpture.Purdue University

2008-Present.Smollthings:Paper and Clay Studio.Owner Operator

2007-2017.Art Educator.Crawfordsville Community Schools

2003-2007.Art Educator.North Montgomery School Corporation

Scholarships.Workshops.Grants

2019 Delta Phi Delta Grant.Purdue University

2018.Archie Bray.Beth Cavener.Tip Toland Workshop

2018.Promise Grant.Purdue University

2013.Arrowmont.Paul Wandless Workshop

2003-2005 Montgomery County Education Grant

2003.Betty Shoaf Grant

Exhibitions and Writings

2024 A.Lure, Exhibition and Gallery Show.The Arts Federation.Lafayette.IN

2021. Anemoia, M.F.A. Exhibition Book and Gallery Show

2020 Detrit-us, Artist’s Own.Solo Show.Lafayette.IN

2019 Manifest Gallery.Cincinnati.OH

2019 Guest on Art Tap Podcast.Lafayette.IN

2016 Athens Art Gallery.Crawfordsville.IN

2012 Three women.Three Stories.To Show.Crawfordsville Public Library

2006 Smollworld Traveling Adventures. Joint Exhibition.Crawfordsville Public Library

2004 Self-Portraits and Story”.SchoolArts Magazine

2003 African Masks of the West Guinea Coast”.gallery Show and Published Catalog

2003 Selections from Thomas D. Slater Collection”.Curated Gallery Show and Published Catalog

2001 WestWood Exhibition.Purdue University

Memberships

-Art Initiative Sponsor.WLJrSrHS

-Quiet Minds Studio.Founder.WLJrSrHS Group

-Greater Lafayette Art Museum.Education Committee

-Purdue Art Collective

-Art League of Montgomery County.Group P Secretary

-Chair of the Children’s Art Exhibit for Downtown Art Show

-National Art Education Association.PS-NAEA.Vice-President

-Art Cenacle.Local art discussion and exhibition group

-Athens Art Gallery and Studio.Instructor and Exhibitor