looking lovely: MFA Final Show

"Recollection: Morfar" detail

Here are images from work in my MFA final show, which was in July in the Gittins gallery at the University of Utah. I use a lot of very subtle, low contrast imagery which really doesn't photograph well. But at least you can get an idea of what I do.

My short(er) artist statement:

People try to make sense of who they are today by who and what came before them. Using photographic and drawn elements in print installations, I explore the idea of memory in my work. In each piece, I focus on one person, or one specific group of people in my life. These prints are monuments to the people, places, or moments that make up my everyday.

Much of the work is low contrast. I use a pale, watery, color scheme, and subtle details to emphasize the ephemeral nature of remembrance. Topographic lines figure prominently; symbolizing the connection in our memories between people and places. Sometimes these lines take their form in sewn thread, which is then used to haphazardly connect each printed person’s face to the next. The grid form is often used for its references to community and to solidarity, but also to the way that the repetition of many parts can make the variations between parts (in this case – faces) more apparent to the viewer. Sometimes these grids remain intact, other times, they seem to be disintegrating, much like our recollections.

I feel that if I use my work to memorialize the people and places that surround me, they are not completely forgotten. They will not disappear completely, and therefore, neither will I. Although my work is personal, I think that my feelings of loss, regret and longing in relation to other people are universal. War memorials, photo albums, and written memoirs, for example, are all evidence of our basic human desire to remember. And in that act of remembering others, we find a place for ourselves.



'Recollection: Morfar". watercolor, graphite, screenprint, and sewn thread on handmade paper. 5'x7'.

Although undetectable in the photo, in person you can see the sewn outline of a large sailing ship. The sails are all filled with handwritten names. Each rectangle has a subtle, white screenprinted face on it.


"Recollection: Morfar" detail


"Recollection: Provo". four color separation screenprint and sewn thread on paper. approx. 10'x12'.

"Recollection: Provo" detail


"Recollection: Wallonie". photocopy transfer and monotype on paper. 17"x10'.


"Recollection: Wallonie" detail


"Recollection: Wallonie" detail


"Recollection: Family". detail. screenprint and letterpress printed handmade books. dimensions variable.

There are actually 6 of these books ( one for each member of my immediate family). Somehow I didn't get a photo of all of them.


"Recollection: Family" detail


"Recollection: Family"detail

Each page in these books is blind embossed with a text from Pliny the Elder on loss. The text is the same on each page, but the handwriting is taken from a different relative.


"Recollection: Utah". polaroids, marker, and sewn thread. 4'x6'.

"Recollection: Utah" detail


"Recollection: Utah" detail
"Between wind and water". screenprint and sewn thread on paper. 11"x13".
"I am the sea freak". screenprint and letterpress on paper. 4.5"x12".

The letterpress printed text in the banner says: " life is hard enough when you belong here".
"William it was really nothing". screenprint, letterpress, and sewn thread on paper. 11"x14".

This print has blind embossed text in the upper left that says, "William, William, it was really nothing". It also has a "ghost ship" screenprinted in semi-translucent white ink.
"Birds of Paradise". screenprint, letterpress, and sewn thread on paper. 10"x12".