ARTIST STATEMENT

    My goal for a lot of my pieces is to find where maturity and playfulness meet- I want my pieces to excite, entertain, and make people laugh, but with a professional standard of craftsmanship. I am creating sculptures and two dimensional pieces which are vehicles for my exploration of themes involving animalism, and human relationships to animals. I believe that it is important to have physical objects created to represent our ongoing alienation of the natural world. I want to ground my feelings of anxiety, fear, and discomfort with tangible objects.

Incorporating humor in my pieces is important to me; I find they add accessibility and entertainment to serious topics. Although it is important to have works which are upfront in their seriousness; I find it equally as important to present issues in an attractive and sensational way; as to motivate rather than to disencourage.

I find that form is the most important, however; content is my motivation to create. I want to make pieces which will reach as many people as possible for the longest period of time, however; I’m more interested to see my works in a domestic realm rather than a gallery. I intend my works to be aesthetically appealing and technically skilled. 

My works relate to my perception of our society and environment. My intention with my art is to show people the things I see, the way I see them. I don’t think that any living organism should be “brought further”, because there’s a complexity that can’t be replicated on a microscopic scale, and it’s mind boggling to me. My pieces borrow elements and symbols from animals and environments, creating an easy to digest-one-stop-shop for certain feelings and emotions that are provoked by the natural world. I compare my experience of nature, to the experience that our previous generations would have had. I intend to reach a wide audience and confront them with their relationships to the animal world.

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Photo Credit: Shannon Ruth Dionne Miller

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