Higher Eductaion

After finishing my under graduate degree, and seeing the financial hole i have started for myself with student debt the piece higher education came to mind. My end goal is to go for my masters in painting so I can teach on the collegiate. Knowing how much bigger my student debt will grow as i try to pursue my dream makes the idea of education seem just out of reach. Im sure if it wasn’t for my upbringing and family the idea of higher education in general would seem out of reach like it is for many. I believe education is extremely important in this day and age and whats more important is making financially feasible for the masses of society. 


Fabricated


700 yards of red thread………………………………………………………………………………14.85

Designer Clothes…………………………………………………………………………………….2,453.14

Callused finger tips with multiple puncture wounds………………………………..Priceless

The external manifestation of internalized emotions: cutting, pinning, stretching and sewing fabrics together, the process calluses the tips of my fingers reflecting my heart after my surreal journey. Anchoring the Fabric over a topographical map created from my recycled materials express the tension my individuality feels as it stretches and adapts over each ridge and valley. Each textile I use is charged with good, bad and ugly memories. Using labels and pockets from clothes I convey the labels we take from others and what we choose to carry with us. Sewing these fabrics together speaks to my own meticulous nature. The individual islands mark different chapter of my life, perhaps unconnected at first, brought together into a larger picture over time. My paintings become reflections of personal development, and the impact of intimate relationships on identity. The irregular format, the play with color and tension in the fabrics, conveys my own abstract understanding of life and the path we take.


Many of my concerns deal with battling the idea of myself viewing other individuals as a commodified object. By Repurposing my old clothes I attempt to reclaim the idea of judging based upon surface appearance. Speaking to the depth held behind our individual fabricated shells. 


CFUM SUMMER DAYS 2017

I worked as a Camp counselor this summer with an organization know as CFUM. Children Family Urban Ministers (CFUM) located at trinity church in Des Monies Iowa, is local organization that focuses on before and after school care in the river bend neighborhood. Their summer program had be working with the kids as an art teacher for kindergarten to fifth grade. it was a truly rewarding experience and in honor of my time working their i created a large 4 foot by 8 foot mural with the help of my students. I created a back drop for what would be their creation. The kids where prompted to create pictures of what CFUM meant to them. these pictures where then deconstructed and reconstructed into the shape of both Trinity church and Moulton Elementary the two sites the CFUM operates out of. the large 8 by 4 foot mural making the street view CFUM breaks down into two 4 by 4 foot murals which are site specific to each building.

Using Format