A little while ago I was able to talk to a great young artist that I went to high school with about her work and her life…

-Have you always wanted to be an artist?

No, first wanted to be a paleontologist, tae kwon do master, then artist then writer then artist again. 

-Tell me about how your style evolved.

I did a lot of drawing in the beginning, the year book cover designing phase with sharpie marker, then I went through a phase of learning the skills and basics, then picked up ceramics out of the blue. It has definitely changed to be more feminine. It is humans vs. the natural world and more organic.

-Your senior show in college centered on the theme of hair, tell me about that. How did you land on that? What mediums did you focus on?

My piece was called colony, and they were mostly ceramic but with hair on them. Symbolizing a community and how we’re connected. They were all kind of strung together; not strictly natural but with human qualities to them (the hair). It was hair from my sister and from my friends; it brought in people who are special to me. 

I have this fixation with hair and teeth, which is loaded with symbolism and questions. I was thinking about home a lot. It’s cliché but you’re graduating and seeing what you’ve become, all of that played a part. Taking the idea that everyone is connected and putting it all together.

-Who or what would you say has been your biggest influence?

I don’t know. There’s just too many. Hong Chun Zhang, she does these giant panel drawings of braids and they relate to her mother and sister and her Chinese culture. They’re all very feminine artists whose work deals with the nature of women. A lot of them draw from their own cultures and family histories. I’m not really into political art at all. Mostly ceramics since that’s what I’ve been looking at more in the past couple of years. Hong just came out of nowhere and I was just Googling and her stuff came up and they were just amazing.

Kate MacDowell, I found out about her when we had to do a contemporary ceramics project. She does a lot of life vs. death, human vs. nature. She has a sculpture of a human heart with tentacles around it and I had drawn the same exact thing only about 6 months before. That’s when I knew that I should be doing ceramics it was a discovery of faith.

-Do you focus more on color or texture? Any other element that usually comes to the forefront in your work?

I really like texture which is why I think I’m so drawn to ceramics. It’s touching, kinetic. I love the feel of it. I try to portray it even in my drawings. Not so much color; I’m a very neutral person. Form, but that could be a given since its sculptural. More natural and organic forms with curves and feminine. Female and wombs not hard and architectural. 

-Do you see your style as an artist leaking into other styles of your life and vice versa? (Fashion, Interior Design, etc.)

I wear a lot of neutrals and my house is very neutral. In clothes, something that has a great texture and is able to stand out without being a bold color. It’s the joke at work that I never wear color.

Check out her website to see more of her work.

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