Artist's Statement
My work is profoundly shaped
by the experience of growing up outside Chicago in a Catholic family
with my mother and twelve brothers and sisters. My mother created elaborate
family rituals, especially around holidays and special occasions. Every
Christmas Eve she shepherded the children through a candle-lit pageant
that involved a reenactment of Mary and Joseph's journey while singing
"Silent Night". My sisters' 1st Communion Mass was held in our dining
room, rather than church. My mother created a warm, loving environment
within the family's house through meaningful, collaborative actions.
I recall my mother sitting at her sewing machine meticulously making
window drapes and doll clothes in addition to doing laundry, cooking,
baking, giving haircuts in the kitchen, bathing us, scrubbing floors,
caring for sick children, and curing chicken pox. The endless physical
work of home and family was only overshadowed by the constant emotional
work of parent/child relationships.
Even though my memories of
my mother are vivid, it was not until I became one that I developed
a deeper understanding of "women's work."
Before having my daughter,
I trained and worked as a sculptor and costume maker. My
work involved creation of handmade objects assembled within installations
that became "sets" for performance. As a reflection of my childhood
these incredibly labor-intensive efforts were saturated with visual
information.
My work has always been autobiographical.
It is a story that recalls the beauty, pain, hope, disappointment, celebration,
and love in my life through a variety of media, used one at a time or
simultaneously. I am most drawn to time-based media like live performance,
sound, and video, and seek to create performances for a specific site,
occasionally using a live-feed or prerecorded video projection and/or
sound to be amplified along side the performance. To me this type of
work represents a dream within a waking life action. The core of my
video and performance work consists of repeated domestic actions, which
one would find in life like kneading bread dough by hand. My installation
work implies action, which had or will occur, like placing cake ingredients
in separate bowls, which are then positioned in a circle on the floor.
Domestic supplies and materials are used because they have close historic
and contemporary connections, which best tell my story. As an artist
(performer) I seek to generate a visual experience that is only validated
by you (the audience) and the energy unique within the space between
the audience and myself, which is an essential prerequisite for me to
perform.