Statement
The ‘family debris series’ was conceived in response to my effort to purge our family’s excess consumer waste, as our three children grew and moved on. The series comprises printmaking, mixed media, sculpture and installation work. When printmaking, new shapes, textures and meaning are generated by the overprinting of our detritus on inked printing plates. The resulting embossed imagery embraces the viewer in complex compositions, while inviting them to move in closer to a varied surface of familiar objects. Layered as it would be found in a landfill, the debris offers new perspective on what we work so hard to own and often effortlessly throw away.
As I approached working at home during Covid 19, I elected to work small with material that I already had at hand, including family debris monoprints. The compact scale enabled me to hold the prints in my hand as I stitched and collaged on each piece. These ‘art in isolation’ pieces felt reminiscent of ‘at home’ domestic arts and offered the same comfort in the making. In the end, the work was meditative, providing the opportunity to pursue sustainability, sanity and to re-use and re-work, while following my mantra: waste not, want not.
StateMA
CountryUSA
