Design & Organization:
Based on a childhood fascination with family quilts (the juxtaposing, twisting, mirroring, and reversing of shapes), I use squares, which sometimes form rectangles, to create a design concept of active and passive space. In the active space, I construct and attach images, collaged papers, original photographs, and text. The passive space is meditative and quiet; its focus is texture. The three-dimensional found objects, "activators," are visual vehicles inviting the viewer to make a more physical connection to the imagery. The activators remind us that we are not passive observers of life, that we must take part in the present. The addition of common hardware contributes to the idea of strength and structure. By combining images and objects, by combining meditative and active surfaces, I balance construction and reflection.

Content:
On top of this formal design, I construct images triggered by personal and universal perspectives. Like a scrapbook, the memories of our past experiences and knowledge are a collection of vignettes, punctuation marks that give our lives direction, meaning, and substance.

Alphabet Series: Based on research into the Proto-Sinaic (pre-Hebrew Western) alphabet, I pair collaged and drawn images with alphabetic letters, both proto-representational and contemporary. Letters have numerical equivalents and well as multiple meanings which add to the paired imagery's suggested connotations.

Wild West Series: The images reflect my interest and recollections in the American West. I was born and raised in Abilene, Texas. My great-great-great-grandfather, Oliver Loving, drove the first cattle out of Texas. My paternal grandfather owned the largest private collection of Native American artifacts in the 1960s. I spent my summers inNew Mexico on my maternal grandfather’s cattle ranch, watching roundups, moving cows, exploring arroyos, canyons, and mountains.