Imaginary Souvenirs

Mixed media installation
2006

Ceramic flocked pigeons (Souvenirs of the larger souvenir pigeons)

Post cards

Archival inkjet prints

40 Felt Pigeons: Hand-processed raw wool from a local farm, Squeeze activated voice recorders, Fragments of recorded audio from neighborhood interviews

40 Snow Globe Pigeons: Individually crafted plastic forms, water, photographic prints, artificial snow

Half of the life-sized pigeons were originally shown in the Mills College Museum. The rest were released closer to where they originated: both inside and outisde of the fence surrounding the Mills campus in Oakland, CA. All the birds left outside had tags inviting people to take them home and send me an image or story about where they end up.

Green Room

Mixed media installation
2007

Green Room is a naturally absurd space. Sedimentary layering has moved beyond the traditional landscape to encase only the objects of an office interior. The daily norm has been interrupted to become more natural and strange.

The artificial layering of sediment alludes to the natural deposition of earth over time. The result is an opportunity for a contemporary archeology. Green Room simultaneously reflects nature and architecture. It is a controlled version of something uncontrollable.


The room was broadcast to the internet via webcam. As the show progressed, plant life emerged and clay dried and cracked off, revealing the actual and still functioning objects beneath.

This project was a long time in the making. After years of imagining a piece like this, the perfect opportunity presented itself: I was given the chance to work with artist Liz Worthy in a gallery connected to a ceramic studio.
(photos by Johnna Arnold)

All Sides of a Sphere

12 Archival Prints
18" x 18" each

Sol LeWitt provided directions to shoot a sphere. The result was a minimal and beautiful collection of shadows, light, and form. It was also sterile. Taking the very same directions (lit from above, four sides and all their combinations), I have made this geometric form speak something entirely different. In my execution of his words, the sphere is no a longer clean or confined idea. The surface is literally disrupted by something real and very much alive. I mean to question purity of form and authorship.

cozies

rock cozy

Foot print of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant Cozy

Lichen, Moss, etc.
Bamboo, Amapola
2006-2007

Usually our weight and shadow would keep anything from growing under our feet. Footprints become a marker of what was once there. Instead of demonstrating an absence, I wanted to make the footprint itself more alive. The print or shadow of a previous form creates something new, and just as compelling as what was there before.

Boa constrictor digesting an elephant Cozy

Ceramic, Wood
2006-2007

A cozy covers the surface. Its shape gives an idea of the object beneath. I am focusing on the decoration, divorced from the thing that it covers. All you are left wtih is surface and memories of a form.

Planetary specimens

Plexiglass, Lichen, Moss, etc.
1" x 1" x .5"
2006-2007
36 objects in and outside of Little Tree gallery
and placed around the neighborhood

These are allusions to souvenirs, Petri dishes, and small natural and unnatural surprises

I wanted to break down the divide between inside and outside, natural and artificial. These transparent peepholes growing moss and lichen permeate windows and mirrors. They were installed on both sides of the gallery window and glass door above and below eye level. They extended beyond the gallery to neighboring storefronts and mirrored walls.

fire balls