Outbreak

"Outbreak", 2006, Oil on Board, 3' x 4'

At this time I was heavily influenced by the work of Hunter S. Thompson and the aesthetic of Ralph Steadman. I was also watching a lot of zombie movies and loved carnivorous plants. Can you imagine if our world was attacked by hungry Venus Fly Traps?

Iggy

"Iggy", 2006, Tempra and Acrylic on Board, 8' x 4'

This painting is my pride and joy. I love this painting like a mother loves a child. Just ask any of my friends, boyfriend and family, who have had the unlucky pleasure of moving this painting many times. It first went from school to my parents garage. Loading it into the truck I smoked my boyfriend in the head with it (accidently of course) and proceeded to yell about how important this painting was and if anything were to happen to it I would kill him. It sat in the garage for a couple years until my dad was sick of looking at it and threatened to throw it out. I immediately yelled that I would kill him if he did that and suggested it go up in my room. I measured from the floor to the ceiling, which I remember as being 8 feet exactly. My dad, my brother and I began the awkward process of taking it through the doors of the house and up the winding stairs of our house. Before it was able to get to my room we gouged the walls, ceiling and my dad got a nasty 6 inch sliver in his arm from my improper sanding of the wood. Once it was in my room we realized that it did not quite fit and the bottom stuck out from the wall about 2 feet. It had not looked that big in my studio at school or the garage and it looked like a massive bear in the corner of my room. I immediately regretted my decision to bring it in my room but kept my mouth shut and thanked my dad and brother for helping me.

Once my boyfriend and I got engaged and moved in together we had to move it from my bedroom into the basement of our new house. We had a bunch of friends helping us move and I again reminded everyone of just how much I loved this painting and that if anything happened to it I would kill each and everyone of them on the spot. Since I am such a basketcase my boyfriend told me I had to wait upstairs while they brought it in. I sat upstairs and held my breath while my loving friends made yelling noises and said things like, "OH NO WE'RE GOING TO DROP IT!". I waited several long minutes before a friend ran up the stairs and told me to come see where they put it. As we walked downstairs he regaled their heroic tale of how they moved it in and how one of them almost tripped and how it almost didn't fit down the stairs. He finished the story by saying, "...but then we turned the corner and it was like giving birth, it just slid down perfectly." I thanked them profusely once I saw that Iggy was in one piece.

If any of my friends, family and (now) husband are reading this I am so thankful for all your help with moving this painting and I apologize for being such a neurotic dink about it.

Anyway I had completed this painting for an assignment in one of my classes. The assignment was to complete a large scale painting in 8 hours straight based on the cover of a book or movie. I chose the cover of a VHS tape of an Iggy Pop concert from Paris 1991. I loved this tape and I watched it over and over again, enamoured by Iggy's performance. Since I had to do this painting quickly I felt like I captured Iggy's movements and energy in this painting.

Trap

"Trap", 2006, Oil on Board, 4' x 2'

I painted this right after finishing the fish bellies. I was inspired by a girl I saw on the side of the highway right outside of Calgary. I was driving late at night and all of a sudden my headlights shone upon this girl sitting on a suitcase by the road. She had her legs pulled up to her chest and her head down on her knees. It scared me at first because I wasn't expecting to see someone sitting so close to the road, but as I drove on I felt a wave of sadness come over me... I realized I had never seen anything as hopeless as that girl before. That image of the girl stuck with me and I felt that I had to make a piece about it.

Belly Up

"Belly Up", 2006, Oil on Canvas

These were the first pieces I did when I got my studio space in 3rd year. I had researched how fishermen gut a fish and how scientists dissected fish. After a critique I found out that people couldn't really tell which one was which. However, I really liked how the fish belly's floated in space and some people even thought they were paintings of weird couture dresses.

Carousel

"Carousel", 2006, Oil on Canvas, 2'x3'

This was a painting that I did in my second year of art college. At the time I was taking some intense studio courses that had me riddled with self-doubt. My self-esteem plummeted even further after receiving a negative critique from one of my professors and I felt mortified at having to put it up on the wall to get critiqued from my peers. Before hand, I had thought up every bullshit justification and reason for every single brush stroke in this painting just in case I was slaughtered in my critique. However, my critique didn't end in bloodshed and tears but ended on a fairly positive note. A lot of people liked how the brush strokes had a child-like quality and was reminiscent of the subject matter. A few months later I ended up selling this painting.

Anyway, I decided to include this painting in my cabinet because of the significance it held for me later in my art and a much great obsession with the carousel motif.

Circus Freaks

This is a drawing that I had done in my first year of art college. It was considered a break out piece for me by some of my professors and its themes of the absurd and circuses are something that I still go back to in some of my work. This is why I have chosen it as the first piece to show in my cabinet. I was really influenced by the work of Ralph Steadman in this piece as well as advertisements from gossip magazines.

"Circus Freaks", 2004, India Ink, Pencil Crayon, Charcoal, 23"x35"

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome to The Cabinet of Curiosities! I have decided to create a place were I can share my artwork with others. I had originally wanted to save enough money to pay someone to make a fanciful website for my art but in traditional DIY ethic I have decided to create an online cabinet of curiosities in which to provoke wonder, curiosity and excitement. I will be starting near the beginning of my art career back when I was in art college and work my way up to the art I am making today. My hope is to find a community of other curio enthusiasts. So sit back and enjoy!