_FUNKHOUSER

In some of his prompts for impractical machines, Shash used the word “handmade.” I suspect this is why the resulting objects appear to be made from craft materials like clay, fabric, and paper. He also used the word “impractical” and possibly that’s why the results remind me of machines young children create. 

A cotton candy factory, a city for birds, a machine that sends out love. Imagining solutions without the limitations of feasibility is part of the magic of childhood. There’s optimism and hope in that space of possibility.

I’ve spent many years working closely with young children and materials. Painting, drawing, sculpting, and arranging objects, can all be modes of expressing ideas about the world around us. For children, especially those who are still developing verbal communication skills, these artistic languages allow opportunities to make their ideas visible to themselves and to those around them. When we listen closely to all these languages, we can react in kind, kicking off a cycle of co-constructing knowledge. 

I was interested in listening closely to these impractical machines. I wanted to make these imagined objects real. And, I wanted to offer the juxtaposition of the digital and the tangible for consideration in a moment where artists are wondering what role AI may play in the creative process, and the world is wondering what futures are possible.

12 x 12 “ oil on canvas from a winter visit to the National Seashore

leather, acrylic paint, sewn

painted leather, hand sewn and attached to donor sole

painted leather, hand sewn and attached to donor sole

oil on canvas

south-west side of Mount Watkins, with Clouds Rest peaking in and out of view behind it

oil on canvas

work in progress

Deconstructed artwork. Oil on canvas, photographs, mixed media on paper, leather, tapes, etc. sewn with heavy-duty thread.

mock nike - custom colorways

Mixed media HYPED with handmade logo, printed on camo sweatshirt juxtaposed with email exchange with custom sweatshirt printing company. Digital representations are photographs and screenshots from cell phone. Editing done in Snapchat.

converse sneakers customized with inspiration from yosemite valley

Reflections on Half Dome in Yosemite Valley. Oil on canvas. Ranging in size (18x24” 12x16” and 9x12”)

Inspired by views of Yosemite Valley from the top of Eagle Peak. Oil on canvas, 60x72 inches

Studies of the Yosmite Valley landscape layers. WORK IN PROGRESS 2017

Revisiting, reworking, reimagining relationships over time. Considering what the lifespan of a glacier reveals about the meaning and impact of a human lifetime. Inspired by Perito Moreno and the hanging glaciers in the French Valley of Torres del Paine.

assembled components of mixed media on paper 

2018

Inspired by the powerful moving waters of Iceland

Taking the shapes from my Attachment collages and translating them in ceramic. WORK IN PROGRESS 2018

Investigating the boundaries of glaze over earthenware in consideration of the geological relationships between glacial ice and stone. 

Revisiting, reworking, reimagining relationships over time. Considering what the lifespan of a glacier reveals about the meaning and impact of a human lifetime. Inspired by Sólheimajökull, Iceland

assembled components of mixed media on paper 

2017

Paints & glazes in dialogue: vessels inspired by studies of Iceland landscapes. Námaskarð is an area of bubbling geothermal mud pools near Lake Mývatn. 

2017

attempts to simplify the complexity of enormity with gestured lines

mixed media on paper 11x15"

2017

Considering glacial time: where are the details and textures within the layers? 

Sumi & acrylic inks layered with a touch of pencil and oil pastels. on paper 22" x 36" 

2017

attempts to simplify the complexity of enormity with gestured lines

mixed media on paper 18x24"

2017

small works on paper made on site during travels in Iceland

summer 2017

Paintings & mixed media work. Inspired by pioneer species: moss, lichen and fungi. These organisms bring life to inhospitable environments, making it possible for additional new growth to arrive. Considering the relationship between ecological succession and human cultural evolution.

2017

Experiments considering the textures and colors of lichens on stone surfaces.

2017

sketches from observation; sticks & lichen collected from walks in La Honda, California

sumi ink on paper 5x7" 

2017

Experiments in replicating the lines, textures, and color palettes found across the Moroccan desert, using glaze on ceramic vessels

2016