I am artist and art therapist who currently lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin. I received my bachelor degrees in fine arts and psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and my master degree in art therapy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Artist Statement
How does someone function in a world set to a manic, unnatural pace? How do body and mind adjust to a system that demands habitual consumption? How does a person survive in an environment whose ideals of self-serving individuality have become untethered to any sense of fellowship? How does someone ground themselves in a predatory, media saturated world where self worth is defined in term of the material and not the moral? How does an individual exist within a oppressively constructed system which not only does not serve the individuals who maintain its machinery but also perverts its architects? An environment that makes unjust and inhuman demands upon its inhabitants by its very nature creates psychic fractures and ruptures.
Through my personal art making I hope to illuminate the complex interaction between the individual and their current psychological, social, political, and cultural environment. The artwork I create presents a creative distortion of my subjective experience through the metaphorical use of personally and culturally loaded symbols as they encounter and infiltrate the human form. By creating work which integrates our shared body with foreign elements that are not only recognizable but evocative, I create parabolic images and stories which are purposeful and subversive in their message. With this guiding intention, form follows function as my artwork crosses diverse material boundaries and seeks to be at once visually engaging and thematically accessible.
Therapeutic Approach
Working as an art therapist and counselor I adopt a person centered, humanistic approach. I promote insight and understanding concerning intersectional aspects of identity including biological, psychological, and social factors leading towards both growth and acceptance. I encourage art making as an opportunity for catharsis as well as a investigatory tool to mine personal stories for insight and facilitate further reflection, which in turn can direct functional cognitive and behavioral interventions. My theoretical and practical approach allows the trajectory and intention of the therapy to be established and informed by the client while specific strategies for change are created collaboratively and employ both art based and verbal processing. To best support my client I employ aspects of solutions focused, strengths based, narrative, cognitive, and behavioral techniques.