Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background and current artwork?
A: I was exposed to art regularly while growing up; I grew up in New Jersey and my parents are New Yorkers so day trips into New York City to visit museums was something we did often. I started taking private art classes in middle school around when my sister started taking classes because learning how to draw and paint looked fun and interesting to me. The idea of translating something from real life or something that existed in my mind to paper or canvas felt like an exciting and comforting way to express myself creatively. Through high school, I continued to gather skills in drawing, painting, and photography and went on to get my BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Delaware. I dabbled a lot during my undergrad years, but ultimately focused on large scale abstract oil painting.
Once I graduated and no longer had access to studio space, I transitioned to bookbinding and collage because it was something I could do in my home without having toxic mediums around. I also just loved the idea of making my own books that I could journal or sketch in and wanted to share that with others. Collage came as a secondary practice, in service of the journal designs, but has moved to the forefront of my current practice and body of work. I've been focusing on collage and bookbooking for nearly 14 years and I feel that my practice continues to evolve while maintaining the same foundation that I started at. As an environmentalist, I strive to keep my practice rooted in ecologically sustainable practices as much as possible. Collage lends itself beautifully to that: all of the papers I use to create images are crafted for existing, found papers that would otherwise be headed for the landfill. All of the paper inside my journals are 100% recycled as well.
I love making art that is utilitarian because it becomes interwoven into someone's life in a way that is active and intimate. I also love giving people something beautiful that they can create things from their own mind in. Art is for everyone and my hope is that people feel that when they use the journals I make. That said, as I continue to maintain and grow my bookbinding practice, I am moving towards making more collage work that is meant to hang on the wall. Even though I've been collaging for nearly a decade and a half, I feel very new in this area and am excited to see where this practice takes me.
Q: What do you need to advance your career/take the next step with your artwork?
A: I could easily make the answer to this question a to-do list, but ultimately it comes down to time and wanting more of it. The work of being a career artist can be all consuming at times and when you're a career artist you're also a self employed business owner. Any small business owner will tell you how many different hats they have to wear on a given day. Especially because I hold a seasonal, part-time job outside of my art practice, I often feel very tight on time. Lately I've been craving more open, unstructured time to let rest and creative play come through. Artists need space and time to calm our nervous systems so we can dig into those deep wells that our ideas come from. I want more time for that.
Q: Tell us about being a full-time artist! How do you achieve life/work/artwork balance?
A: I’m actually a part-time artist and a part-time organic farmer with a goal to make art my full time job. And it's very hard to find a balance! I need the part-time job to support me financially and, for the sake of my mental health, I need that job to be meaningful. I farm because I love being outside and growing plants and feeding people. But it's strenuous work and doesn't leave me with much to give to my art practice after a day in the fields. I make sure to give myself at least two full days where I just work on art and the business; and I do that work in my studio where I can focus better. This might sound obvious but full nights of sleep, staying hydrated, and eating well go a long way in helping my mind stay clear so I can balance everything. I'm not always good at taking full days off for rest when I'm in my busiest seasons though, and that's something I think I'll always be working on.
Q: Who do you consider to be your greatest artistic mentor? What did they teach you?
A: The idea of a mentor is always a little funny to me because I feel like, in life, we are all learning from each other constantly. I am constantly learning from the artistic community around me, especially since I've been renting studio space at The Yards. I love and appreciate how much everyone is willing to share feedback and knowledge. I did have a handful of college professors that made impressions of me: Bob Straight was always wonderfully kind and always pulled the best out of my work. I can handle tough criticism, but having my work met with warmth and excitement is a real gift. Making art can be really vulnerable and Bob was always able to uplift. Drew Wapniski was always asking all of us if we could go bigger with our paintings. I loved that he pushed all of us to explore scale and it really helped me grow as a painter and as an artist in general. I feel like "bigger" didn't just apply to dimensions but also depth of craft or idea.
Q: How long have you been a RoCo member? Why did you join?
A: I’ve been a RoCo member on and off since I moved to Rochester in 2010. I actually was an honorary member from 2010-11 because I was interning at RoCo! I've maintained my membership as often as I could because I think RoCo is doing excellent work in bringing thoughtful, contemporary art to Rochester. Plus I love participating in the Members' Exhibition.
Q: What is great about Rochester? What can we do better?
A: There's a lot that I love about Rochester. We are a city with a lot of green space and nearby access to natural spaces. The art community here is so lively and diverse and the food scene here is wonderful. I also love that Rochester is small enough where you can feel a sense of community around you but big enough where you're always able to meet new people. Seeing the activist community in Rochester grow is very exciting as well and it would be amazing to see Rochester be a part of some big, positive change.
There are a lot of things I love to see Rochester improve upon too though and a lot of those things come down to social issues. Rochester has very serious issues regarding homelessness and poverty that desperately need to be addressed. Seeing the cost of living here rise since the pandemic has been scary and with it has come an increased level of homelessness. I feel like Rochester has a lot of empty homes and larger buildings that could be turned into subsidized housing and community support spaces. I know Rochester also recently launched a basic universal income program and seeing that expand would be very important to enhancing people's quality of life. I also want to see Rochester have a more robust public transit system as well as more bike lanes.
and similarly: What is a major challenge artists face in our community? How do you think we can overcome it?
A: As much as I love that Rochester is a smaller city, I sometimes wonder if that works against artists when it comes to expanding our audience or allowing more of us to financially sustain our practices without needing outside employment. I also hear a lot of language in the artist community (and I include myself in this) that indicates that we don't think we are able to or even deserve to be paid well for our work. This isn't unique to Rochester, but I think that we artists really hurt ourselves when we undervalue our own work. I also often find myself thinking about consignment cuts, gallery fees, and booth fees and how these costs impact how much we can pay ourselves to live and still make art while holding the reality that the shops, galleries, and events need funds to survive and thrive as well. I would love to see some more city/public funding for the arts in general: anything from more grants for art spaces to thrive to a form of basic universal income for artists to be able to live and build their practices.
Q: Something more light-hearted: -What are you currently streaming/watching/bingeing?
A: I’ve been rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the spin-off series Angel and recently listened to podcasts covering both shows: Buffering the Vampire Slayer and Angel on Top. I always loved horror and fantasy so that plus the nostalgia factor from having watched these shows as a kid is just feeling fun and good right now. The more I watch it, the more I love the characters and the more I appreciate the way the universe is tied together. Plus, if a piece of media can make me have a wide range of emotions, I'm in.