“Quis hic locus? Quae regio? Quae mundi plaga?

                           What world is this? What kingdom? What shores of what worlds?”

A misquote of a misquote, but it is the thought I had when I held my baby in my arms for the first time. Her eyes zeroed in on mine and any other interest I thought I once held melted away into an all encompassing feeling of love and adoration. 

My art has always been an exploration of identity. Who am I? What does this look like? How do I relate to the world around me? Once I had children though, that search became an exploration of motherhood and womanhood; and then when my children began to grow and their personalities developed, my art took a distinctive turn both exciting and unexpected: a shift from a self-centered view of the world to one that includes two young beings. So much of my work now explores how my children perceive and relate to the world. I strive to capture that connection between a mother and her children, a mother and herself; in essence, I strive to visualize my own motherhood experience. In doing so, I aim to contextualize who I am as a mother, a woman, an artist. 

I consider myself experimental with my chosen materials. My most recent work has taken me back to my roots in drawing and painting; using either gouache, pastels, ink, or a combination of those materials. These pieces focus on the complex experience of motherhood. I particularly enjoy the moments of discovery that occur unplanned in each artwork; be it a texture that captures the feeling I held in that moment, or the interaction between heavy, dark ink and light, bright color; a lovely visual representation of the juxtaposition of motherhood.

Through every piece, no matter the subject or materials, consciously or subconsciously, I continually explore “Quis hic locus? Quae regio? Quae mundi plaga? What world is this? What kingdom? What shores of what worlds?”