As we grapple with the reality of the Anthropocene, working within public spaces becomes increasingly imperative. By utilizing public spaces, we open up the conversations around our art for others to engage with. We must work with one another to learn and grow in the face of adversity. With our communities, we can enact change on a larger scale.
Our Roots is a community paint-by-number, created for the Create! Event at the Boardman Arts Park. The imagery of this piece is dedicated to the local ecology. It depicts various native plants, such as Black Eyed-Susan, Blue False Indigo, and Blue Vervain.
In the creation of this piece, the art became less about the piece itself and more about the experience. Children ran up joyfully to paint, parents helped their children, and adults talked to me about the joys of art, and how they haven’t had a chance to paint in years. Conversations about the imagery, and the importance of native plants, arose throughout the entire process.
This project was featured on the live newscast, Good Day Columbus.
Through the Land Art Piece, Revival Tract, I interrogated our relationship with the land. We manicure and spray our lawns into submission, using invasive grasses to achieve that “perfect” green. These invasive grasses choke out native plants, require more fertilizers, and contribute to soil erosion.
To rewild this land, a backyard in urban Columbus, I re-introduced native plants, such as milkweed, birds foot violet, and aster. I circumvented our zoning laws’ demands for mowing by using clover and creeping charlie as groundcover. I saw flies pollinating for the first time. With this project, I included our local ecology in the term “community”.
This project was made possible through the Original Works Grant from Ohio University
Project Freedom was a collaboration with the Boardman Arts Park and the community in Delaware, OH. Project Freedom’s imagery raises awareness for human trafficking and serves as a beacon of hope.
Using a mosaic style, this piece was designed to allow community members, of all ages and abilities, to contribute to an art piece that will live in their community for years to come.
This project was featured in the Delaware Gazette.
Subverting Expectations was a temporary art installation, with two iterations. Using egg yolks and compostable pigments, such as turmeric, matcha, and organic charcoal, I created an egg tempera paint that would enact no harm to the environment.
This installation subtly shifted the appearance of trees, through the intricate painting of the crevices between bark. In doing so, I aimed to make the viewer do a “double-take” on something they would otherwise ignore. In a world based on routine, we take for granted the natural world that surrounds us.
Simultaneously, the installation of this work granted me an intimacy of these trees that I would never have experienced otherwise. To analyze every crack, every swelling, and every scar of the tree is to see a history that we often ignore. This was the first step towards disarming my anthropocentrism.
