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AST Juried Exhibition0.jpg
 
 
Winner of the Winter 2012 Competition
WOMANifesto
The voice of women artists in the 21st century
 
 
1st Place Winner.jpg
THE MEAN GIRLS: SHE RA
mixed media
6 x 3.5 ft          
nfs                                                                                                 

artist statement

Finding connections between hyper-femininity and aggression, my current work is fueled by a fascination with the history of girl culture. As I question power dynamics in female relationships, empowerment, victimization, bullying, and social aggression develop into recurring themes. My experiences growing up the oldest of eight daughters, and then attending an all women’s university in the South inform my work and process. Rites of passage, such as baptisms, pageants, birthday parties, and debutant balls, are environments I am interested in faking.

I work in many mediums and at diverse scales simultaneously, each material demands a unique handling; from hand sewing, to bending wire, to mixing gelatinous plastics.  Sourcing crafting materials, including glitter, sequins, satin, spray foam, puffy paint, and Styrofoam, I construct saccharine formations resembling mountainous piles of post-party Barbie puke or pre-pageant nausea. I limit my palette primarily to shades of pink because there is something perverted and rococo about an excess of pink.

My mean girls are a baroque gang of hanging stalactites and organic forms, glittering and dressed in satin ruffles and tulle, remnants of wedding and prom dresses. Equally prepared for combat or a catfight, they form a narrative in their relationships with one another. Each piece is grasping at the formation of questions concerning female power within community. These pieces are titled after characters from She-Ra: Princess of Power, a 1980s super-heroine cartoon, starring the freedom fighting twin sister of He-Man. Violence and femininity clash in Mattel’s television program, as female warriors fight femme-fatales. Through magic and fearlessness they save their friends and themselves from enslavement, prompting me to question “Could I do this too?”

 

bio

Raised in West Virginia as the eldest of nine children, I developed a vivacious imagination and a penchant for massive scale crafting. Elaborate play and fantasy games were a continuous part of everyday living, and reality became entirely malleable. Props, costumes, and sets were necessary for living within these imagined spaces, and still are, for me. These objects and installations and performances are called art, now that I am an adult. I react to my environment, relationships, and my own history with a sense of excess and frivolity, finding the crude and fantastic in the everyday.