In my sculptures and installations, I utilize objects to question patterns and cycles in relation to the “happiness” factor.  The first lesson in democracy, that all individuals have a right to “life, liberty, and a pursuit of happiness,” has been mentioned in the media regionally, nationally, and internationally with seemingly increased frequency during the past few years.  

 

Focusing on the last part of the phrase, “the pursuit of happiness,” begs a question of “What is happiness?”  Has happiness become a commodity in the process of pursuing happiness?  Moreover, are games, cycles, or products created in this pursuit, part of the pursuit, or are they distractions to keep occupied and optimistic in the meantime?

 

With these concepts in mind, I find visual and tactile inspiration in objects, materials, and activities that are ordinary, but have the potential to maintain a voice when combined or altered.  For example, works such as success and cul-de-sacs represent a series of sculptures that are intended to critique the commodities of yards and houses, the activities of collecting and owing, and the placement of windows and rugs.  Through the impermanence of soap and the artificiality of the Astroturf, these works are designed to encourage dialogue about individual and community approaches to “happiness.”

 

Sculptural installations of forces of nature explore how a balance of fear and joy can both contribute and distract from a pursuit of “happiness.”  In forces of nature: hurricanes and slinkys, the layout of the sculptures and the increasing scale of the forms were visually inspired by diagrams of hurricanes. Living in the Midwest, out of the range of these storms, the diagrams of circular forms showing its development makes the coming devastation seem controllable like a video game.  The inexpensive Slinky seems so simple, but the physics of the spring and theories of Hooke's law visualize the limits of stress that can be endured before it cannot be corrected when the stress is removed. These works focus on how fear and joy begin as simple ideas but can become complex quickly while the inverse is also true as complex concepts become clarified when seen from a distance.