Join me for the opening of my solo show on

October 4th from 5-10pm at The Parlour Gallery

Artist Talk Nov. 1st at 7:00 pm

Semaphore refers to the use of visual language transmitted over distance.  

The work in this show is a reflection of modern times, made from salvaged fibers. 

By the very existence of those salvaged fibers, my work is about excess. While we readily consume, we discard items without a second thought. Meanwhile, there is already enough clothing on the planet for the next 6 generations.

Some pieces take a fleeting moment and capture it beyond a photo, stitch by stitch. The light changes, the child is older, the furniture is no longer there. This work brings those moments back into the physical plane.

Others thrive in the visual chaos. Movement feels distorted, edges never square quite right. Each piece is alive with collective memories. Visual language transmitted over the distance of time.

They are I Spy games or Rorschach Tests. Mirrors and windows.

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My process is steeped in gut feelings. Ideas begin as granules, like the way the changing light falls in the room. The resulting photo can sit idle for years before it moves from the digital plane to physical, either directly onto silk or satin with ink from my home printer or through thread and the sewing machine.

Or the piece can begin with textiles from my collection, likely sitting in a bin for a decade or two, after an impulsive purchase somewhere in the world. The color, texture, imagery, or even a memory they conjure; there are endless possibilities for my motive at the time of specimen collection. I try not to over-think the process, moving though my studio looking and listening for the pieces that call out: ‘Remember me? You found me in the bottom of an old trunk of costumes in a dilapidated basement in the Garden District that had an armoire full of dolls with rat-chewed faces.’  A child’s costume too wrecked and old for its intended use, but too beautiful a color to ignore. The stitches lovingly (or impatiently – who can know for sure?) sewn over a hundred years ago. The whole thing is so tender I can’t resist finding a use for it. The old fairy costume becomes an integral part of a composition, the unfinished needlework is now a geometric structure.

I use free motion embroidery to combine elements, often using invisible thread, and sewing until different textiles become one. Sometimes I swap out the fishing line-like thread for a neon color and use the sewing machine to create gestures.

I pay attention to the colors that make up the light and shadow of a scene and take great joy in arranging thread to act like a photograph.

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