PORTFOLIO

I have long been interested in the intersection of science and art. I begand to notice that many of things that surround me/interest me can be depicted by the doily - now a stable in my lexicon. I enjoy the fact that through this work I am often rendering something harmful/toxic into something quite beautiful.

The first images here [black and white] are representations of the h1n1 and Spanish flu viruses. At almost 4 feet square these are largerin scale than other works featured on this page. I decided to render these in black in white -to mimic all the slides/visuals I saw of these viruses. I became a bit obsessed with flus when my husband and I both got h1n1 the fall my daughter was born. I started the series by doing some studies of other harmful viruses.

I first started drawing atomic structures of toxins as doilies for Couplets - a show with Aurora Robson. We actually made work meant to hang together - by color. My father-in-law is an environmental scientist and I asked him what the top 15 environmental toxins, in his opinion, were.

I then continued my research for "fleeting beauty" an exhibition at Gallerie Nicoletta Rusconi. The bulk of the work from that show depicted chemical warfare agents - many of which were utilized in WWII [my paternal grandfather was in the navy]. I also manufactured some 3D models of certain toxins - wrapping glass balls with handcrocheted doilies.

I also use doilies to talk about viruses/disease as when they are clumped together they mimic cell structures under the microsope. I really enjoy the play between the drawn version of the doily and a stitched/crochet version.

When I started drawing doilies I realized that en masse they reminded me of internal organs... the final work on this page is doily body drawings which represent the 4 things I think you need to make art: your lungs, heart, brain, and guts.