Please describe your current work:

Caught in the whirlwind of modern life, the art of being still emerges as a precious gem, often overlooked amidst the clamor of streaming content. The demand for more immediacy and authenticity is ever-present even as we self-select filters to receive skewed news that numbs our ability to engage in critical thinking. It is in only a moment of stillness the accurate observations are made in real time. Using simple backyard nature motifs as inspiration, I make art to evoke wonder and contemplation of long-held beliefs from new perspectives.

The artistic process requires intense spotlight-like observation to see and understand how light hits every fold and crease of a petal, and the shape, line, and texture of every hair, feather, or scale. At the same time, my art requires lantern consciousness to capture accurately the whole of my subject within the greater context of its environment and how my art fits within the larger context of contemporary art. 

Currently, I work in two distinct media: scratchboard and ink, and acrylic on canvas. Scratchboard is a gorgeous, retractive medium. Each mark is made via scratching with a sharp tool, e.g., a sharpened knitting needle, to reveal white clay underneath a top layer of matte black ink, The drama of the black and white is alluring. Often, I add colorful ink and iridescent paint to the white marks, to create jewel-like effects. Acrylic on canvas is useful for exploring color and creating larger pieces, e.g., 48” x 48” paintings, for solo exhibitions.

What future direction do you envision your art taking?

I see my artwork evolving into a single medium, instead of two, and larger in scale to explore the challenging world of public art installations. I will be moving away from small square scratchboards to mosaics composed of individual 48” x 48” panels of CLAYBORD®, which is a wood panel coated in white clay that allows the artist to express her creativity in applying the top layer of ink and provides for scratchboard techniques to expose the underlayer of white clay. While the individual square panels are small enough to fit comfortably in my studio, they may be installed in a mosaic format of any size to fulfill commissions for hospital lobbies, corporate offices and hotels.  

I have already experimented on small clay panels. Beginning with the white surface instead of black, I applied swaths of colorful inks to the surface with a brush, sponge, and even plastic bags. After the ink dries, I scratched into them, repeating the process until I was satisfied with the completed composition.

Working on large-scale square clay panels will incorporate my painting and cratchboard skills into a unified body of work ready for installation in  a mosaic format in public art settings. 

How will you use this award to move toward this vision of that future direction?

I want to use the Summerfair Individual Artist award to increase the scale of my art to position my art for public art installation. After having had a solo art exhibitions across the commonwealth of Kentucky and had my work included in juried group shows across the country my work is represented by respected
Cincinnati-based international art gallery with corporate art consultants.

Specifically, the award will help my art business acquire 48” x 48” CLAYBORD® panels, each of which retails for $511 plus shipping. I plan on applying ink to the white clay panels and removing portions of the surface with scratchboard techniques. Having once supported myself as a muralist in Greater Cincinnati, I understand how to develop and execute a composition of large scale and plan to breathe composition of the square panels in a mosaic format to custom fit the completed artwork for installation in interior spaces. 

I will use a portion of the award to have the artwork professionally photographed after my sample panels have been made and installed in a mosaic format in a gallery setting. Alternatively, I could use the remaining funds to purchase a digital camera to use for better photographs of my work and for better reference photos of flora and fauna. 

With sample artwork and great photographs, I will be able to demonstrate to corporate art consultants and on public art applications that I may be commissioned for any size interior installation, such as lobbies of hospitals, conference rooms in corporate offices, and feature walls in hotels.

Please describe your current work:

I am a storyteller, I weave my tales of my life, my family and the world around me with my narrative quilts and dolls which can be larger-than-life-sized self-portraits. The media I use is dictated by the story I am telling. Gigantic pink fake fur bunny sculptures beaded and embellished in a compulsive, almost meditative way. Wooden marionette puppets hand carved in the traditional techniques. Marrying age-old traditions with a contemporary, pop art palette and costuming. Using objects traditionally associated with children and play, e.g. dolls, stuffed animals, toys, music box ballerinas. And puppets, I strive to create a childlike whimsy, honesty and playfulness in my work. Found toy objects are dressed, covered, costumed and embellished using embroidery and beads. The quilting and embroidery are all done by hand using a simple running stitch. I use garish, bright colors and tactile fabrics, the viewer is pulled in for a closer exploration of the narrative within. My most recent body of work has been my most challenging to date. My art for this exhibit is informed and inspired by my grandfather’s immigration to America. Using the House of Fun as the entryway to the installation, juxtaposed by the dark interactive installation art. These pink bunnies, stuffed animal monkeys, wooden puppets live within the environments I create. 

What future direction do you envision your art taking?

This path I have embarked on through my recent body of work is just beginning. I will continue to create whimsical creatures and characters using large stuffed toys, sculptures and marionette puppets to tell my stories. I will further explore my Jewish family history. I will continue to blur the line between art and craft as I use multiple media - including wooden marionette puppets, fiber arts, animation and installations to articulate the stories I tell. I am intrigued by the juxtaposition of the House of Fun as a vehicle welcoming the viewer into the space to see the art that lies beyond the entrance - dealing with subject matter that is darker and shows a side of humanity that is not very pretty. However, continuing with a call to action to be better, more resilient, and to find the joy will always be the most powerful take- away from my art exhibitions.

How will you use this award to move toward this vision of that future direction?

I have always been intrigued with stop motion animation and have used that technique as well as digital animation in a supporting role in my exhibits. I would  like to expand on the use of those methods and have them be a more prominent focus - using some of the same puppetry, materials, construction, embellishments and environment from my past work. The puppets, characters, figurative sculptures I have carefully crafted all have dynamic stories I’d like to expand upon. I will create additional figurative sculptures and using animation can make them come to life in a way that is not possible in traditional marionette puppetry. Thereby providing more color and depth to my storytelling. 

I would use this Summerfair grant to purchase technical equipment, and attend in- person as well as virtual training and workshops in animation techniques.

Please describe your current work:

For a decade, my work has been an exploratory practice of creating fictions as 3-D forms. They are snippets of character, of a plot, a climax, an arc, worked out like ‘flash fiction’ captured in a tangible space. Each are born from the impossible worlds buried within, their very concept is the implication of fantasy and escape. Presented herein are examples from three recent bodies of fiction. While the work is different in subject, the concepts in which they are made, and their final realization is always identical. They take shape interchangeably for me as crafter of story.

My newest, most recent stream of storytelling draws on the mask and bust cultures of the past. Those creating forms to scare away enemies or glorify gods. Mine are the proper villains of the day; wearing their wrongs in vibrant technicolor, unabashed and out front for the pleasure of all who see. These are a story of social commentary of the time we live in, our society busy defying the villains, daily.

The Sci-Fi ‘bug’ forms have been crawling about for close to a decade now. My Friends From Isolation, this series of works represents characters of a Sci-Fi tale of loneliness and regret, the products of a scientist, a destroyer of works, a maker of monster companions. These mixed media forms are rooted deep in the practice of creature reaction spanning literature, painting, cinema, and puppetry. Their story and the process of their creation go tandem in a practice of pushing the bounds joining things, and materials that don’t easily exist together creating puzzles and strange invitations to explore, from the haven of a maker’s obsession; the enigma both yours and mine. The puzzle of the process to my own standard and expectations make the journey worth the toil.

What future direction do you envision your art taking:

I would like to create these forms - steepled in principles of repetition in shape, color, and texture - in a variety of forms, and in multitudes. Not only in the number of works present, but also in  a variety of sizes and states of being, in order to fill out a greater sense of space, and to break into an area of Fine Art - strange as it could be - via the arena of installation. This could allow for the possibility to create a kind of implied environment for the fictions to occupy, for the viewer to interact with, or all to be immersed in. A change in the scale of the work would also allow for greater possibilities of creating movement in the forms, which would further credit the implication of a living creature.

Imagine a clean space, filled with a multitude of vibrant, and highly tactical imaginative creatures, wriggling out of the shadows, both exy and threatening, in full and proper rumpus. From the floor, up the walls, across the ceiling; breaking boundaries of the imagination, of definition by genre.

To achieve this scope in their currently limited size, materials used, and methods of their construction would completely upend my decade long developed practice. The step and direction would naturally require more crating materials and more secure storage and shipping methods; as well as, a much farther reach for venues able to facilitate the installation endeavor. Their current size and my current situation make their growth inhibited. 

How will you use this award to move toward this vision of that future direction:

The difficult task at hand is establishing a more stable means to exhibit through the ability to ship my precarious work. Reach of the work has become the shortcoming of my practice because of a lack of access to storage of the crated works, and sufficient funds to ship them to exhibitions beyond my region due to the precarious nature of the work in size, general strangeness of their forms (spindly legs, multiple parts), and the measures required for their safe transport. I have been shackled to areas within reach, variable short distances, where personal delivery and installation has been attainable. Most of my works need an elaborate crating system to securely transport, far beyond the seemingly luxurious simplicity of bubble crap and a cardboard box. Sometimes the cost of the crate and secure packaging materials within it exceed the cost of the materials and time required to make and execute the sculptures themselves. 

I am hopeful of an opportunity to get the work to a broader audience, via national show; greater reach through more secure shipping possibilities would allow the works to expand further into broader reaching venues as a Cincinnai based artist and educator. The very vital task requires an amount of funding for exhibition application, shipping and handling cost that is not easily able to be met. The AIA Award would grant me an increase in budget that would exponentially expand my professional reach. 

Please describe your current work:

As an artist with disabilities cased from Spinocerebellar Ataxia 5, a rare neurological disease that is progressive, affecting my ability to walk, talk, balance myself and use fine motor skills,my artwork not only considers the essential structure of animal references but has become a vehicle to interpret transformative changes occurring in my body caused from the progression of the disease. My artwork researches and brings awareness to people living with disabilities while pushing the boundaries of contemporary art. My work uses sculpture as vehicles to explore material, challenge the pedestal and give evidence to connection with the world around us. This work discusses these concepts by focusing on movement's copious flow, a manner of passage of the living body to one’s gait and gesture. The work drives examination and permits curiosity uncovering aspects of human nature and wonder of origin. The juxtaposed ideas reveal blurred distinctions between connections and dysfunction exhibited in julti-media mutivalent invocations of the body. My work serves as a metaphor between our connections, wonder of the natural world and to our future. Like a river or the blood flowing through our veins, our human connection and vessel is the continuous change, tradition and movement. The work explores the malfunction of systems to communicate with the whole body and the interrelated fluid parts that flow together. My work discusses and celebrates the fluid connections and movements of body and time, like a river in motion moving toward transformation and hope for our future. I have been weaving different paper qualities and gauges of copper and steel wire together while strengthening the materials with liquid starch, paper clay slip and epoxy. Each piece is incredibly light weight because the material used and the audience has the opportunity to interact with my work in an intimate way.

What future direction do you envision your art taking:

I envision the future direction of my work experimenting with new concepts, materials and traditional Hispanic weaving techniques to create an outdoor installation that abstractly investigates themes of redefining, repurposing and generational dysfunction of genes/systems communicating with the whole body. Also, I want my work to develop/expand traditional cultural techniques inherent in both weaving and ceramics, experiment with the applications of color, investigate the dysfunction of connections and bring awareness to the community of people living with disabilities. The work will become the catalyst for future outdoor, environmental installations which push the boundaries of contemporary art. These mixed-medial materials and techniques used will create many woven forms that are pieced and installed together higher than the publican reach but can see the detail, texture and patterns while surrounded by the cast shadows and light from above. I want my work to generate awareness to our community who might not have knowledge of ways in which bodies are impacted by disabilities. The work will expose the essential core of the human body while exploring what happens when the body's systems break down and interrelated parts no longer communicate. The media and artistic practice/ processes used for work, will be fire, paperclay, woven fabric, thread and plastic, woven copper and steel wire, cast and woven paper, fired,clay slip-coated fiberglass screens, molded epoxy and cast glass in hand built molds with pate de verre techniques. The materials and methods used in the creation of this work embrace the possibilities of alternative installations strategies and challenge the plinth and pedestal. Also, this work and activities will engage people, cultivate learning and excellence through the arts.

How will you use this award to move toward this vision of that future direction:

I would use this grant to move toward the future direction of my work in four ways; purchasing materials and equipment, continued working time to explore provocative concepts, materials and techniques, hiring a prime studio assistant to assist me in the studio, climb a ladder, lift work/supplies, create hanging systems for my work and help pack and transport my work and assist in photography, shipping and installation expenses of new work for an upcoming outdoor exhibition at the University of Cincinnati and future publications. With this awards help, I will create work that is incorporated with paper elements and constructed from public involvement in artist workshops and artist talk. The collaborative work will investigate the dysfunction of systems to communicate with the whole boy and interrelated fluid parts that flow together. Throughout the award period, I will create hundreds of paper strips and journal while responding to questions; What does it mean to connect? Do you ask enough questions? How can I help one person today? I will present an artist workshop/artist lecture, paper strips/drawing materials and ask the public to respond then question, as well. In my studio, I will use all paper strips with traditional Hispanic, Plain and Negative Space weaving techniques to create large circular forms with different gauges of copper wire, paper and glass frit into ceramic molds for burn-out techniques in a gas kiln to create ceramic shells of form. The work created with this awards assistance inspires healing and accountability through outreach, learning and advancement in the arts., This work serves as a vehicle discussing the healing power within each of us and our interconnectedness with one another.

Please describe your current work:

Light falling on various surfaces is an essential element in mu drawings. These shifting luminous qualities transform the subjects as I draw them. The fleeting light caresses innumerable surfaces, revealing subtle textures hidden within, I am selective in which fragments to include and eliminate. Windows call attention to the light as it passes from the outside to the interior environment. These windows have3 distinct proportions and are common themes because they include an interior and exterior, hunting at the thoughtful and illuminated contemplation of the internal and external realms we all experience. 

The environments in these drawings whisper echoes of decay, with surfaces cracking, peeling, or falling apart. They speak to the concept of impermanence and hold visual references to what they had once been. Objects within these environments emulate the eternal dance of life and mortality, evoking the temporary state of existence as they deteriorate and decompose, implying the passage of time as they succumb to rot and dissolution.

My drawings offer a novel perspective, challenging traditional notions of when contemporary drawing can communicate and defining the possibilities of visual expression. These drawings are more than visual representations; they are catalysts for a deeper reflection and understanding of how we interact with and impact the world around us. They contribute to a broader dialogue emphasizing the importance of considering the ephemerality and impermanence of life and the need for sustainable practices rewarding the delicate balance of our environment. 

What future direction do you envision your art taking?

The most important thing for me is creating additional finished drawings to build upon this body of work and to expand on exhibition opportunities nationally and eventually internationally. Applying to multiple exhibitions that take place at the same time is difficult due to the limited number of drawings I have in this collection. More drawings will allow me to show my work simultaneously at these different venues. 

Dedicating time to focus on my drawings is exciting but challenging, mainly because they are site-specific. While making these dressings, I return to the site at the same time each day so the lighting is consistent while drawing from observation. Therefore, I spend about two hours on each session. As part of my professional development goals, I envision working on drawing techniques that will speed up the process without compromising the quality of my drawings. This would include drawing from life, as well as from photographs, and more efficient use of graphite powder. With these techniques, I also plan to create drawings on a larger scale. 

I have discovered that artist residencies are ideal for finding unique drawing settings and allow the necessary time to focus on multiple drawings simultaneously. Some of my best works were created during two international artist residencies I attended, the first at Art Center Padulat in Italy (2023) and second at Greenwood Arts in Ireland (2024). At these residencies, I structured my time to focus on drawings when the spaces had appealing natural light. I learned much about advancing my drawing practices and using my time efficiently. I also finished multiple drawings with additional drawings in progress. In the future, I plan to participate in more artist residencies that present suitable environments to continue making these drawings.

How will you use this award to move toward this vision of that future direction?

The Summerfair Aid to INdividual Artists Award would help me cover costs of an artist residency, exhibition entry fees, frames, shipping and art supplies over the next year. This would significantly advance my career by providing the resources necessary to engage with my creative practice and increase my viability. 

An artist residency offers invaluable time and space to focus solely on developing new work, free from the distractions of daily life. It also provides opportunities to connect with other artists, curators, and potential collectors, expanding my professional networks and opening doors to future collaborations, workshops and exhibitions.

Funding for exhibition entry fees allows me to showcase my drawings in prestigious galleries, museums, and other venues, gaining critical exposure and recognition. The cost of framing and shipping is often a barrier to participating in these opportunities. With financial support I will be able to present my drawings professionally and reach broader audiences. 

Affording quality art supplies will enable me to continue creating new drawings while experimenting with new techniques and materials, pushing the boundaries of my practice. This will lead to the creation of new drawings that demonstrate these new techniques. 

Ultimately, financial support in these areas will advance my career by allowing me to focus on creating art without worrying about how to fund essential aspects of my career. The support will help me foster my artistic growth, expand on research opportunities to evolve my drawings, and sustain my drawing practice, enabling me to take risks and pursue more ambitious projects. Additionally, Summerfair’s endorsement of my work through this funding is a significant recognition, furthering my professional development as I continue to build a lasting and impactful career in the arts.

Please describe your current work:

My current body of work bridges sculptural ceramics and fiber art as a process-oriented exploration of the margins of material, self, and ecosystem. While my work is mostly figurative, I often play with dislocation or ambiguity to deepen questions around the separation of nature and culture. I hand sculpt or throw and alter all of my ceramic works. The individual play between my hands and the clay is a crucial part of my practice and is in support of conceptual aspects of the work. I also hand-dye and generally grow or forage the dye materials for all of the knitted and crocheted elements of each piece. Any fabrics used are recycled from garments or found in thrift stores. I strive to engage materials with known sources, situated in ancestral knowledge and re-use, which create layered histories. My most recent works show a shift to wood and soda firing due to newer availability of those firing processes in my community studios. Wood firing produces surfaces which are naturally dynamic and do not require high inputs of heavy metals, excessive burning of fossil fuels, or use of synthetics for color. The resulting work is imbued with an alchemical quality that is harder to achieve in neutral firing environments. After ceramic elements are fired and fiber is dyed, I negotiate the transitional spaces between each medium through play, adaptation and attention as they coalesce into new formations.

What future direction do you envision your art taking?

I am already shifting into expanded media and contexts as I finish up my most recent body of work. I would like to extend my research beyond animal and human subject interactions to include more direct links between the plants all animals depend on for respiration and food, and which I am growing or foraging for fye materials. This has led me back into my early training as a painter, as I can more effectively render plants pictorially than in three-dimensional clay components. I plan to continue the hybridization of materials, reaching into more 2-dimensional work to engage a larger swaths of wall space creating more vibrant worlds for sculptural elements to inhabit. I also plan to deepen my practice in weaving, quilting, and natural dying. I am challenging myself in the next year to completely blur the lines between my media practices to achieve more immersive environments in future shows.

How will you use this award to move toward this vision of that future direction?

I will use this award to purchase necessary materials for new research and experiments including sustainably sourced cotton and wool fibers for weaving and dye materials. The award will also increase my budget for clay, firings, paints and general art supplies. This will allow me to build at a larger scale and to create the immersive qualities I hope to achieve in future works. In addition, an award will support my application and attendance at artist residencies and research travel during the coming year. The biggest gift is always time. Any additional funding ensures that I do not have to take on seasonal work to pay bills during semester breaks and do not regularly overload myself with jobs that distract from my goals as a maker.