BA, Art (Studio Arts – Painting)

Artist Statement

This series is a loosely sequential first-person narrative. These paintings individually offer glimpses into a world similar to, and constructed from selected elements of, our own. As a series, they can be seen as a trip through this world. Using digital collage techniques, I have created source images from my own photography, combining two to four pictures taken in my walks and bike rides within the Milwaukee area. I then use these photocollages as reference for watercolor paintings on surfaces of watercolor paper stretched like canvas over stretcher bars or panels. While my style is influenced mostly by impressionism, for this series I also drew thematic inspiration from surrealist and magical realist techniques. 

All of the photographs I have used in the collages were taken within a short distance of the Milwaukee River, a current or former railroad line, or—in most cases—both. Those thoroughfares shaped the city during its construction, and the history of them remains embedded in many places to this day. By overlapping these spaces with one another, I am attempting to create new scenes that catch and enhance their interactions between new and old, dark and light, and urban and wild.