Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
M.S. Design Research, 2019, Department of Architecture, Design & Urbanism
Thesis: From Optical to Tactile, Feeling Photography
Recipient of the Joseph M. Wilson Award for Architectural Research for essay Aesthetics in the Weimar Republic and the Bauhaus
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
M.S. Arts Administration, 2007, Department of Performing Arts
Thesis: Fine Art or Popular Culture? Defining the Painting Industry of the Dutch Golden Age
Philadelphia College of Art (Currently University of the Arts), Philadelphia, PA
B.F.A. Photography, 1984
Professional Development Certificates:
Society of Research Administrators International, Basics of Research Administration, 2016 Institute for Strategic Funding Development, Strategic Grant Development Writing Workshop, 2014
Artist Statement:
This work explores how the medium of photography intersects with new technologies to create a fabricated forest environment that includes the trees, the canopy and the forest floor. It is meant to document and reproduce the environment as it is now and that might not exist in the near future.
By utilizing a process of extruding two-dimensional photographic imagery to three-dimensional bas relief, incorporating microprocessors with imagery and experimenting with different materials and scale to bring aesthetic value, haptic sensory and sound to the photographic image. The work comes together as a simulated environment that would not just hang on the wall but encroach the floor and hang from the ceiling.
It includes a series of pieces called “Simulated Tree Bark”. These pieces were created as wooden photographs. Traditional photographic images are digitally converted to 3D and by using a CNC router or laser cutter as a printer, the once flat photographic images become tactile bas-reliefs on wood. The idea is to take a piece of lumber which is made from a tree that was cut down and then re-processing the lumber so it reverts back to the original form of the tree.
"Leaf" Wooden Photograph, 10" X 10", 2018
“Simulated Bark #3”, Wooden Photograph, 14" X 11", 2018
“Simulated Bark #10”, Wooden Photograph, 16" x 10", 2018
“Slab”, Wooden Photograph, 42" x 20"
"Bark", Inkjet Prints (torn), 19" x 19", 2019
"Fungi Neckpiece" Silicon, fabric, gold pigment
"Canopy", Laser cut Inkjet Prints, Ceiling Installation, 2019
"Forest Floor", Printed Carpet with sound, 48" x 60", 2019
Gallery installation, 2019