Residencies

Baroque Research Trip
France

In Summer 2017, I spent two weeks at Chateau Orquevaux in Champagne-Ardenne, France. While there, I completed these works. The intricate miniatures reflect my first attempts to incorporate Europe’s Colonial history into my work. The gold paint is specifically French, and is the same gold color seen all over Paris. The farm animals were, at first, an homage to my new feathered and furry friends, but they were also foreshadowing to more recent work that uses animals as a main subject.

All completed on a two-week residency in Champagne-Ardenne, these Miniature Paintings are the result of Baroque Research Trip.

TJ in CHINA Project Space
Tijuana, Mexico

In 2013 I spent three weeks in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico at the TJinCHINA Project Space- I got to know Tijuana as a pedestrian with my family. With our son (3 years old at the time) in a stroller, my husband and I walked the streets of TJ, a city not known for “walkability”, gathering information and photographic material for this work. While sometimes challenging (due to high curbs and sometimes-missing-walks) moving through the city in this way provided us the source material for mixed-media city-scapes. A “shop” was created using very basic materials in the TJINCHINA project space. The color palette, influenced by TJ, uses primarily Politec and Comex paints. The green and neon orange are colors that not only repeat themselves throughout the city (and are politically coded) also refer to the Mexican flag. Color fades with spray paint create quasi-sunsets and sunrises over the hills of Baja California. 

Issues related to Tijuana’s status as a border city with the U.S. struck us upon their first visit to the Border Fence at Playas de Tijuana; while ubiquitous to Tijuanese, we felt culpable for it as U.S. citizens/taxpayers and embarrassed at not really understanding that this structure has been in place for many years. 

Grafikwerkstatt
Dresden, Germany

In 2011, the Ohio Arts Council and Zygote Press sent me to Dresden to participate in the long-running residency exchange with the Grafikwerkstatt. Upon arrival, I began a 90 centimeter zinc intaglio plate, working both sides - one side based on the Frauenkirche, the city's most recognizable landmark and the back based upon the Albertbrucke (the bridge where the weekly Fleamarket is held each Saturday). I responded to the city as a guest. Many of the titles are a combination of German, French and English words, reflecting my linguistic confusion. The intaglios characterize Dresden as repeated iconic buildings dotted with 17th century stone figures from the city’s Palace and are a response to the firebombing. The photo lithographs incorporate the shop’s collection of letterpress cuts that almost one for one reflected the weekly flea market offerings.