Images From My Final Crit

Miniatures- Progress

I have recently been working on a series of two inch by two inch paintings. These petite paintings are monochromes and some are coated in polymer resin, much like my "larger" works. With these small paintings I am interested in the scale of the human figure to a painting the size of a jeweled broach. By working small, the viewer is forced to come closer to see the details in the piece. Also, these little paintings are a method of experimenting with a glow. I use fluorescent paints on the back of the small works. When floated off the wall, colored shadows appear like halos over these precious gems/ paintings.


The above image is one of twenty works sized at two inches completed.

Cigarette Butts Installation- Progress

For an installation, I am reacting to the piles of cigarette butts typically found in public transportation shelters and other trash items discarded to the ground outside. I find these trash piles are something common place and experienced by many folk out walking. Another commonality I have found amongst people is the discovery of something shiny, attractive, or compelling discarded accidentally or purposefully to the ground by another person.

I am creating hundreds of sparkly gold cigarette butts out of clay. These butts will then be dispersed among the piles of trash found on the ground. The aim is for people to notice the reflective clay butts, and then for the stranger to grab and come to possess these precious items. By doing so, the viewer will become more aware of the environment surrounding them, and continue to look for precious keepsakes amongst the mundane world.