Soft Parts

I think these are awesome.

Chain saw?

I'm very interested in the idea of play as a means of easing communication and interpersonal relationships. As a child, I was raised in a very strict fundamentalist Christian household, and was home-schooled until I went to high school. I had to learn very quickly how to communicate with the least amount of social awkwardness, and play and humor became a large part of how I navigated my newfound peer society.

I made friends quickly....constantly bringing food to class helped.

I also focus on intention in my work. I find it difficult to make things for myself, and if I make something about which I feel very strongly, I am usually creating for someone else. The act of sharing or giving someone a gift I know they will enjoy evokes a raw and real feeling of joy that I am unable to achieve from other activities. Well. Some activities.

A huge part of my work is the communication and interaction that happens when people are out from under the pressure of social constraints. When personal boundaries are pushed further, and intimacy is created with strangers, an exchange of ideas can happen that would not normally take place. Within the framework of "game", we can be whoever we want to be, and it is easier to connect with others.

Lately my work has been moving more and more towards urban environments and the exchanges that take place because of the city spaces in which we move. Domesticity and ideas of "home", an imaginary place for many people, have a large allure for me in my making process. The trappings and materialistic ideals of what makes "home" a comforting place, and the terrifying image of losing all of the things which give a person a feeling of a place that never really existed are the objects on which I am now focused. As I collect things that remind me of specific times and places, these things gather a memory-specific energy, which can be positive or negative.