Artist Statement

My work is influenced by both memory and the contemporary world. I consider myself a visual storyteller. I work in series. My paintings are like chapters in a novel; they never tell the entire story. There are usually multiple interpretations. Aesthetics is vital; I strive to make work that is both beautiful and provocative.

My Southern roots influence my work. Although I was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, the first fifteen years of my life were spent moving almost every year because my father served in the United States Navy. During the summers, however, I stayed with my grandmother on Wolf Lake located outside Yazoo City. Because I was always returning to Mississippi, I looked upon it (and it looked upon me) as an outsider. Many years later I lived in Brooklyn, New York, for two years. That experience developed and deepened my perspective because I was continually asked to "tell about the South." While there I began to read the works of Southern writers, and it directly affected my work. I became more of a Southerner while living in New York.

Images are usually based on my photographs - often of friends who dress and pose at my direction. I use acrylic and oil paint, printmaking, collage, and sometimes three-dimensional objects to build the surface of the paintings. Collage elements often include vintage dress patterns, old love letters, and wallpaper from abandoned sharecropper houses. In my work I explore struggle, loss, and vulnerability. Hopefully it all comes together like a warm quilt or good gumbo.