The Vegetarian

So the reason flamingos are pink is because they eat shrimp that eats pink algae. So if they were vegetarian and ate vegetables, would they turn green?
This is the premise of the Vegetarian.
Cut paper, 5x9".

Crown

This piece (12x12") was originally meant to be an album cover, but alas. The band didn't like it. (why not is beyond me... haha).
cut paper, the crown is set up a bit from the background. Featuring real Florentine marbled paper! as well as a smidge of vellum.

Cut Leaves

Patterns cut with an exacto blade into magnolia leaves.
I cut them while they were fresh, then pressed them until they were dry (which was really fast)

Dove Milk Chocolate

The silhouette of an orphan, in pieces of foil from Dove Milk Chocolate wrappers.
9x12 paper, and the silhouette of a graffiti tag, 24" long, covered in the same. These pieces were in a group show at Fluorescent Gallery in Knoxville, titled 'Ampersand', in Fall 2009. See Dove Milk Chocolate Square, in Summer 2010, as well.

Tiny Non-grooved vases

these are pieces between 4 and 8 inches tall.
If you like them, please visit my etsy page! I have tons of these.

Tiny Grooved Vases

I made a bunch of these- mostly because I thought they were cute. They range from 4"-8" tall.

How Are You I'm Fine Thanks

This sculpture is a large wooden box (which I constructed- about 20x20x8") with two layers of painted ceramics inside: the front layer is a kind of screen, which is actually the smushed words 'how are you I'm fine thanks'. The back layer is a self portrait in low relief, staring out at you. The closeup is of the eyes.
The concept was to discuss the layer of sterile small talk we use as masks in front of our faces. I also wanted to reference the buddhas in bells on top of borobodur, in which the inaccessibility=holiness. This piece weighed about 80 pounds, and is now destroyed. :(

Skin Cave

This piece is a series of layers of glazed ceramic pieces exploring a kind of freudian descent into the psyche- from conversation to body functions. My teacher smashed the front piece, which was the character inviting you into the cave. I handmade the box as well, it's approximately 10x6x8".

Make Your Own Paint By Number

I made my own paint by numbers of inappropriate things, since most paint by numbers are of cute things like puppies or baby tigers, or of pretty things, like flowers or sunsets or venice. So I did a paint by number of a really gothic sexy girl that some teenage boy would look at- who would never do a paint by number! and of graffiti.

Bunchucks!

These are bunny nunchucks. They are attached by the ears, and one of them runs forward and then throws the other one, so it can kick your face! They have lots of fun.
teeny tiny intaglio print (approx 5x7").

Freeway Print

This is how I feel driving on the freeway next to a semi-truck.
11x14" intaglio print.

Ostriches Riding Zebras series

I thought this was a funny concept.
Started out as the print (11x14" intaglio), then became the cut paper (11x14", with colored pencil), then I redid the composition, which, though dynamic, was somewhat problematic, in the final intaglio print (4x9").

Body without Body

This piece's challenge was to make a piece about the body without using any images of the actual body.
So these little (1.5x3") colored pencil renderings are of other things that are called by names of body parts- from mouth of a river to foot of a sewing machine.
The first image is of their approximate placement on the wall, referencing the height of the respective body parts.
Following are details.

Charming

The challenge for this piece was to incorporate an image from art history, from my personal history, and from pop culture. So the black silhouette is the Rococo painting "The Swing", the man is my grandpa, and Opus the penguin and the Charmin logo are my pop culture references.
This piece is about 40 inches wide, and all the color is cut construction paper. The white is gesso.

Ceramics ponytails

I shaved my head in january 2008, so these pieces were about that- they were decorative renderings of my ponytail that I had left behind. I displayed them in a vertical line in the middle of a wall- so when read left to right, they represented a line of transition, of starting over, which is what shaving my actual head was about.

graphite dipych

When I shaved my head in January 08, these two ladies- Abigail Adams and Natalie Portman- were the women I was hoping to become. When displayed next to each other, they look at each other.
9x12" each.

collage drawing

drawing based on a collage I made- colored pencil, 16x20".
I particularly like the purturbed baby on the back of the New Zealand warrior.

embroidered graffiti

these two are embroidered graffiti tags, about 6" square each.
I was looking to confront the innate nature of graffiti as being outdoor, illegally and quickly made by rendering the shape in the very indoor, time-consuming medium of embroidery. I also liked to talk about the graffiti tag as the name, the signature, and the way we sometimes embroider our names on things too. (there are of course a lot of other meanings, but I abandoned the series eventually because I didn't feel I had the right to explore them)

Where's Waldo Vase

This vase is about 30" tall and very big around, coil built by hand then painted in underglazes and fired with a clear gloss over it. It took probably 150 hours to complete.
I was exploring the concept of the narrative vase, and where's waldo uses lots of little narratives all over using purely visual language (not tied to a verbal story).
Waldo is hiding under the lip of the vase, with a bunch of mermaids.
The piece was at the front of the University of Tennessee Honors show, 2010. A great privilege.

James Frey in Dots

James Frey is the author of the book 'A Million Little Pieces', which sold a zillion copies before it was discovered that Frey made up about half of the facts. Which was important, because its hook was that it was a shocking memoir about his experiences in drugs and rehab.
So I did his portrait in about 1200 dots of acrylic paint, which I squeezed into a grid using a syringe.
This piece is on paper, 16x20".

white cameras

I made these cameras for my sister, for her birthday, since she's a film major. In layers of white paper, about 5" across usually.
I am eventually going to make bunches of this type of thing- instruments maybe, and other machines- monochromatically or in color, to sell. Hopefully.