My work is always figurative and my subject matter is class and poverty, the lives of women and girls, and startling childhood memories.
I prefer to work with “poor” materials such as salvaged wood, paper bags, cardboard, house paint and papier-mâché because I am deeply concerned about the effects of waste and landfills on our planet and the utility of art-making itself in the 21st century. I often use materials that are generally looked down upon as “craft supplies” (colored pencils, felt markers, ballpoint pens, crayons, embroidery) as a comment on class, elitism and biases against women in the art world. I am interested in exploring the power of strong contour outlines since coloring books were my very first artistic influences. I am also influenced by the flatness, symmetries and use of overt symbolism in religious iconography.
I was born in 1954 and have spent my entire life in the Comancheria —in the Texas Panhandle and in northern New Mexico — surrounded by desert, oil fields, uranium mines, carbon black plants and a nuclear weapons assembly center. I was aware of deadly chemicals, air pollution and water scarcity issues from my earliest childhood. I believe that greed, profiteering and selfishness are among the greatest threats to the survival of the human race. I try to remain optimistic that there is still time for solutions to be found for our tiny blue planet’s many problems, and I hope that the observations and ideas of artists and other creative individuals will be included and valued in those endeavors.
