Artist Statement

My work explores the past and present through portraits that started as photographs, made from watercolor paint, drawing and paper materials, and occasional fabric. Each piece depicts a specific place in time, and my goal is to create a feeling of remembrance and connection to those people and moments.

Growing up, my dad spent countless hours on our family’s genealogy research, adding information and teaching me the importance of knowing where I came from. Many of my portraits started from one of hundreds of ancestor photos dating from the late 1800s to the 2000s. The photographs chosen usually have an interesting pose, outfit, or feeling that I want to explore on paper. Over the years, I’ve also started rummaging through flea markets and antique stores for photos of long gone strangers with interesting faces and stories that speak to me.

Each frame starts with a foam board base, cut to house the portrait, then overlaid with a design pattern complementing the photograph’s era or something associated with the subject. These patterns are drawn first in pen, then filled in with several layers of water-based paint on the front, back, and sides, and finally adhered to the foam board. Each watercolor paper portrait is done in the same manner, adding in some experimentation with assorted materials, and drawn in a way that attempts to bring movement, a feeling of distance, pseudo-realism, and a bit of breath back to every person.

If people connect to the strangers looking back at them in my portraits, then I feel like I’m helping create a bridge to the past. Everyone has a family tree, and I hope to give people pause to think about and explore their own rooted lineage.