Artist Statement
January 2024
I am an artist from Oakland, California that primarily works with glass. I make blow molds for glass, and blow glass into the molds to replicate specific structures and objects that are tied to ecology and nature. Over the past seven years I have gone to regions in the Arctic and made molds of ice and bergie bits on the shores of Canada and Svalbard. I then replicate them into glass and fill them back up with their own glacier water.
I recently made a mold of the oldest tree in the world, a part of Prometheus, a tree that was accidentally cut down in Nevada. The tree was over 5,000 years old but is now preserved in the form of glass.
I am interested in the conversion of material; from ice to water, from wax to glass through the making and moldmaking process. Through mold making, glassblowing, video, and collaboration, I highlight the process of transformation. I want to discuss the melting world, the climate crisis, and also bring light to these objects in the natural world that put a mirror up to our flaws in humanity.
The glass, similar to ice and wood, is in a transformative state. This work explores liminal states of material existence, the vulnerable line between comfort and discomfort, and the delicate space between fragility and strength.