Artist's Statement
My major influence has been artist Robert Rauschenberg, whose colorful work is a cross between sculpture and painting. My love of fashion, and in particular, vintage clothing combine in the same way as Rauschenberg's collages to create art with a definitive cultural bent -- that of Southern ways of life in motion. I made my first "dress painting" half way through attending Art School, and my first attempts were merely decorative. Soon, I put a figure in the clothes.
My paintings begin with a thrifted article of clothing that is usually beyond usefulness to anyone else. Thrifting has been a way of life for me, even as my circumstances have changed since I married the love of my life. There's joy in finding a great piece of cast-off attire. By gluing the clothes in motion, the canvas becomes the showcase and the clothing is given renewed energy. These paintings have a stage set quality in their life-sizeness. The plane of the clothing is one depth and the canvas another, which introduces a three-dimensional quality that's a fun surprise for the viewer. The closer the viewer looks, the collage-quality of the piece emerges.
