A multidisciplinary artist and designer, I am passionate about creative re-use. I pursue many different forms of art including, but not limited to, mixed media collage, painting, video, sculpture, puppetry and dollmaking while focusing mainly on costume for live performance and film.
Originally from Chicago, I studied fashion design before moving to Brussels where I began costuming short films and exhibiting my visual art. I received my BFA in Design for the Theatre at Concordia University in Montreal, where I am currently based as a costume designer and maker.
The persistent urge to experiment and create poetic absurdity fuels my art making process of improvisational story telling and serendipitous chaos similar to the method known as automatism employed by Dadaists.
To me, everything is a collage, and in a world of endless possibilities and free association I am often drawn towards a haphazard aesthetic conjured into existence by stream of consciousness alteration and assemblage of reappropriated items and clothing.
As an extension of the body, costumes play a vital role in the art of story telling. My work is an exploration of how humans perceive, relate to, and understand their own bodies, culture, and experiences.
My love of textiles is rooted in my Slavic origins and intertwined with a generational female folk art tradition that drives many of my artistic impulses. This interplay between my maternal inheritance and cultural impermanence is a theme that I am in the process of exploring more deeply.