Adaptation

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, I hear her footsteps rapidly approaching. Eagerly, my three year old daughter exclaims "I want to help!" Any moment I find to work on my art I know it is only a matter of time before she wants to "help mommy." Shortly after, a loud squeal pierces the air as one of my twin 7 month old daughters reminds me it's time to eat. I look over and the other twin has spit up all over herself. Studio time is not as easy to come by as it once was, even finding a moment alone to brush my teeth can be a challenge! After becoming a mother of three, I knew I would have to get creative if I wanted to be able to continue making art.

Enter my love for scissors. As I work on my own art I let my oldest daughter doodle away beside me. Afterwards, I cut up her scribbles and mix them in with my work, it brings us both so much joy to puzzle our work back together into new compositions.

My own personal style began with an uncontrollable urge to create artwork out of scraps. For a large part of my life that was with sculpture, in particular woodworking. I would collect wood scraps and form them into colorful “quilted” laminations.

While working on my wood pieces I became very interested in the creative process and started an ongoing series I call the "art of the process" where I take inspiration from scenes of my studio and the tools I work with.

After studying sculpture in school I transitioned to the career world where I realized I no longer had easy access to many of the tools I depended on. Also, as a new mother the time and effort it took to use the tools I was comfortable with was no longer an option. What was I to do? Adapt! Who wants sawdust all over their baby anyways? This is when the mighty pair of scissors came to my rescue. I could still “quilt” but just with new, thinner materials, that a pair of scissors could deftly cut. I found myself cutting up just about everything, old artwork I had made, wood veneer scraps from my woodworking days, paper my 3 year old daughter doodled on and scraps from my students projects (I’m a middle school art teacher). As a middle school art teacher I am constantly trying to have fun project options for my students to create. I love repurposing colorful scraps my students leave behind by including them in my work.

I even use the same scrap process to create handmade original jewelry in a line I call “Yohee”⸺my oldest daughter's nickname as a baby. I use scissors to cut scrap paper, wood veneer and even thin pieces of metal to create these pieces.

Primarily my work has been non-objective but recently I have begun using scissors to create portrait work focusing on moments that I feel capture my love for my family. My husband is an art teacher and illustrator as well so art truly abounds in my household. Undoubtedly life is extremely busy and chaotic between my daughters, work, and the practicalities of adult life and it is hard to carve out time to create. That is the beauty of my process, I collect some things to use here and there, cut them up when I have a moment to spare, and glue and place parts down incrementally. Slowly work comes together...after the bedtime routines or nap time that is!