Aggregation, 2017 - present
2017 was an enlightening experience, one that I struggled with. My artistic process and productivity took a beating, and I was forced to forge a new path. My art took on a more tactile quality as I moved away from a studio practice and into more unique mediums.
I fell back into painting (which I hadn’t touched for the bulk of my university career) and combined it with the ‘craft’ practices of my heritage. I busied myself learning techniques like embroidery and weaving.
Growing up I saw embroidery on everyday, ordinary, things around my extended family’s homes; I saw the process as a way to dress up the mundane. Taking basic articles and adding detail to create a unique and wholly personalized fingerprint on objects, be it clothing, housewares or hobbies like folk art.
Weaving was more of a side note; my immediate family had always utilized weaving as a hobby, one they never fully extended into the realm of art, rather it was an activity that helped pass the long winters. In and out, round and round, the process was quite meditative, allowing me to focus on just creating.
Aggregated detail is a way that I’ve always seen the world. To me, this is best described as clear snapshots of realization. Where I equate it to the idea of pointillism but on a grander scale. Moments or themes of understanding and clarity. Peripherals make up the bulk of my memories, with small pinpricks of high-definition information. In many cases, these points of detail place value on specific principles or elements of art. This is an ongoing collection of moments and important instances of my experience, ‘aggregated’ while depicting the whole.
