Artist Statement

My poseable sculptures are a rumination on discomfort, connection, and queer identity. The colorful figures are weighted to give them a lifelike slump, and are patterned through a mishmash of techniques borrowed from puppet-making, upholstery, tailoring, and even tracings from my own body.

Informed by my background in puppetry, I am particularly interested in the uncanny feeling that a thing created has a mind of its own. The entire process is collaborative for me – I set out with an idea, but the sculptures emerge with their own unexpected personality. Even after the final seams are sewn, other people connect to the figures in surprising ways that reflect their own unique psychology. Soft sculpture is a limitless conversation between makers, objects, and viewers. It’s exciting work.

I see queerness in my sculptures because they feel strange like me. Soft materials rarely behave. Like any garment, portrait, or label, a sewist’s pattern is an imperfect mirror. It neither fits everyone nor conforms perfectly to the wearer. So, the figures are continually adjusted in search of their most comfortable shape. Through this tedious process a disobedient body is made: a tangle of limbs that, like a doll, claim a presence of their own.