Exhibition Work
When I was young, this rule felt like law: “if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.” I resided in a part of the country that is known for being “Minnesota Nice” and church leaders always stated it was important to hold your tongue rather than risk saying something that might offend. We live now in a society that is in constant communication, via texting, Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, etc. We share our opinions and feelings in a public forum daily, yet Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together, said in her TED Talk: “All of these things let us present the self as we want to be. We get to edit, and that means we get to delete, and that means we get to retouch, the face, the voice, the flesh, the body -- not too little, not too much, just right.” This begs the question, how much of our communication is honest? I want to cut through that noise. My goal is not to be offensive, funny, or judgmental, although the work may do all those things, but to speak openly about the human experience to create meaningful connections through communication.
I have recently been making work about my experience with sound. I ask others to speak up, repeat something they have said, or I joke that I didn’t hear but I read their lips… the reality is that I have sensorineural hearing loss that started when I was 20. It affects my life daily, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be more evident during a pandemic. I was suddenly working from home in a space I don’t normally spend time in and I had to get familiar with all the things that make noise in my house – clocks, dehumidifier, fridge, heating system, my neighbor’s coming and going and their TV & music & dogs – and determine how to mitigate their effects. The new addition of Zoom – trying to hear people when their cameras are not on made me realize just how much I rely on reading lips – and masks – trying to understand the muffled voices – amplified this focus on my relationship to sound.
Below are a few samples of my work through the years.
From my sabbatical work, Soundscapes, chronicling my experience with hearing loss and auditory processing issues.
Exhibited at the following:
Exhibited at the following:
- 2024: New Impressions, 1515 Gallery, Globe Collection and Press at MICA, Baltimore, MD (juried)
- 2022: New Impressions, Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Two Rivers, WI (juried)
- 2022: Artistic Independence (Abstract), Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA (juried)
- 2021: On Paper: Printmaking, Book Arts & Beyond, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Solomons, MD (juried)
From my sabbatical work, Stories in 280 Characters, highlighting moments of my life where travel went oh so wrong.
Exhibited at the following:
Exhibited at the following:
- 2025: 5th Annual Letterpress by the Bay, Historic St. Andrews Waterfront Partnership, Panama City, FL (juried)
From my series Almost Letterpress, using digital technologies to recreate the feel of the press.
Exhibited at the following:
Exhibited at the following:
- 2019 Faculty Exhibition, UIS Visual Arts Gallery, Springfield, IL
From my 2016 solo exhibition Otto Cricket Hits! at the James S. Murray Gallery at Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL (invited)
From my 2015 solo exhibition Let The Words Fall Out at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery at University of Illinois Springfield, Springfield, IL
From my poster series À la inspired by poetry and vintage family imagery, utilizing sewn mixed media.
Exhibited at the following:
Exhibited at the following:
- 2017 Faculty Exhibition, UIS Visual Arts Gallery, Springfield, IL
2014 Trigger: New Work by UIS Art Faculty, Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL
2011 Smoke & Mirrors Faculty Show, Bryan Oliver Gallery, Spokane, WA