Biography:

I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and educated at Arizona State University (M.F.A., Sculpture, 2012), the University of Victoria in British Columbia (B.F.A. with honors, Visual Arts, 1998) and Acadia University in Nova Scotia (B.A., Comparative Religion, 1995). My first degree in Comparative Religion established a curiosity for understanding the people around me and the universal truths that narrate our common experience. This training prepared a foundation for my comparative approach to studying the human body for my artistic practice, layering personal and literary metaphors into contemporary form and subject matter.

My work has been exhibited locally and internationally in Canada and in the United States. Most recently, in 2011 I was represented in a statewide art biennial at the Tucson Museum of Art. Upon graduation from my graduate program, I accepted representation by Udinotti Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before relocating to Phoenix, I lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, where in 2008, I received representation from Elliot Louis Gallery for my figurative works in bronze.

While living in Phoenix, I was twice awarded with international artist grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (2008, 2010) to fund my work with the human figure. While pursuing my Masters degree in sculpture, I received three scholarships from the National Sculptor's Society (2009, 2010, 2011), along with several local and regional awards to support my studies. Finally in 2011, I won a Nathan Cummings Summer Travel Scholarship to visit Rome and study masterpieces from the city’s historical collections to inform my thesis exhibition.

Artist Statement: 

My art addresses life's journey through various awkward and fearful stages, representing an exploration of the real and imagined conflicts we have with mortality and body image.

The forms are composed by layering unlikely and conflicting body parts, cast from individuals of varying ages, body shapes and genders, upon a frame of somewhat natural proportions. These oppositions are projected upon the body's complex surfaces. The viewer who works through these layers unravels contradictions of texture, gender and age and finds in the end a collection of emotions and memories of her or his own.

The energy and formal contradictions of the figures are burdened by their awkwardness and shame that resonates in the surfaces and posture of the gestures captured in each composition.

The sculptures generally stand between four and five feet in height to frame the object in the realm between that of child and elderly. The scale creates expectations of frailty and subordination, designed to further soften the viewer's guard and to promote an empathetic response. As a whole, these works do not pass judgment; rather, they reflect the lingering apprehensions of a narcissistic culture opposed to the idea of flawed bodies, and public expressions of vulnerability and insecurity.