Artwork

Artist Statement

    Everything is connected to everything else. Minds and bodies are never separate. All living beings are unique, and dualistic systems are utterly inadequate for describing them. These thoughts are frequently on my mind, and they tend to have a strong influence on my artistic choices.

    My goal is to engage and challenge my viewers by bringing up fundamental questions they can begin to answer only by looking deep inside themselves and by reexamining the world around them. I want to provide a ground upon which they can build, and triggers to help them release their own memories. I want to share my experiences, and I want to be as eloquent and personal as possible. I want to draw my audience into my stories and leave them with a sense of strong connection.

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Work

    The majority of the work I’ve done over the past few years has fallen into three categories: large format color photography, pinhole color photography, and silk screen printing. My emphasis with silk screening has been largely on poster design, where the content of the work is aimed at enticing a substantial audience to attend specific events. With my photography, on the other hand, I have been propelled by an intense desire to communicate and connect with other people. I have been spending years concentrating on complex questions of transgender identity, sexed embodiment, photographer-subject-viewer relationship, and performance in static art; as well as searching for ways to communicate my experiences of gender/body non-conformity in a universal language. My photographs are crystallizations of that much longer process.

    Please check out the sections on seeking embodiment and pinhole for more detailed descriptions and galleries of my fine art photography. Examples of my posters can be seen on the welcome page.

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Curriculum Vitae / Resumé

Education

• Oberlin College: B.A. Studio Art, Minor in Mathematics (2006)
• Oberlin Conservatory: B.Mus. Piano Performance (2006)
• Cumulative GPA: 3.65

Solo Shows

• February 18–24, 2006: Senior Show (Fisher Hall, Oberlin College)
• May 18–25, 2005: “seeking embodiment: twenty works regarding melsen in transition” (Fisher Hall, Oberlin College)
• April 2004: Photo Installation in Wilder Hall (Oberlin College Student Union) for Trans Awareness Week

Group Shows

• January 24 – March 5, 2006: The Five Colleges of Ohio 2006 Student Biennial (The College of Wooster Art Museum)
• December 2005: Senior Studio and Thesis Art Exhibit (Oberlin College)
• February 2005: ExOBIgraphy (Oberlin College)
• May 2004: Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA) Six State Juried Photography Show (one Juror’s Prize); Ferdinand Protzman, Juror

Grants

• December 2004: Leah Freed Memorial Prize for “Genderworks: Documenting My Experience in a Dual-Gendered System”
• January 2004: Andy Cimelli Grant to support silkscreening illustrations for “We Have A Maddie,” a children’s book dealing with transgender themes
• December 2003: Art Students Committee Grant

Related Experience

• Photographic Assistant for Madeleine de Sinéty
• Graphic Design
• Graphic Artist for Three Twins Productions, Inc. – Screen Printing and Embroidery (2006-present)
• Poster Artist and Screen Printer for Oberlin College events
• Desktop Publisher and Web Consultant for FAVA, Oberlin Community Services, and the Oberlin College East Asian Studies Department
• Curator for the 2005 Six State Juried Photography Show at FAVA
• Adobe CS2 (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator), Corel Draw X3, Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, XHTML, CSS, Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel)

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