About the exhibition from Grand Valley State University Art website:
https://www.gvsu.edu/artgallery/that-shape-is-my-shade-177.htm
Article:
https://lanthorn.com/73524/ae/gv-faculty-staff-students-find-which-shape-is-their-shade/
Artist text about the works:
Plants and hybridized forests appear in my paintings but I’ve never made these specific forms in 3D before. I wanted to make soft sculptures that exist in a sort of transitory space; unlike conventional paintings or sculptures, which have rigid dimensions and carry an ingrained protocol of presentation and care. These are stuffed fabric shapes that take on the orientation and format of a painting and reflect the “in-between” aspect of several work forms. Each sculpture could be unstuffed and ironed out, trading its polyfil and PVC support for stretcher bars. Called to mind are the soft sculptures of Eve Hesse, Philip Guston and Claes Oldenburg.
First, I prepare the canvas, using a wax resist method, fabric dye, acrylic paint. The canvas is then sewn, stuffed and mounted onto found objects that have been gutted, stripped and re-built.
I’m trying to echo the DIY spirit in my painting narrative, where landscapes are filled to the brim with hybrid conifers and tropical palms. Fugitive and versatile plant species in a changing and threatened world.
