GENERAL ARTIST INFORMATION

Yoko Ono: Growing Freedom

Contemporary Calgary approached me in the summer of 2020 about painting Yoko Ono’s 9 Instruction Paintings for her and John Lennon’s travelling retrospective of their work. I was extremely honoured and happy to oblige. The 30 x 30” canvases took over 70 hours to prep with many layers of gesso to create a pristine smooth, white surface upon which each single word was painted in lettering enamel using traditional sign writing methods as requested. The paintings were slotted to travel to Vancouver and possibly Amsterdam as well after their Calgary showing.

Pre-Vinylette Show

I was honoured to be asked to be part of a show in Chicago in fall of 2017 that was an international showcase of women sign painters. My pieces were centred around the problem that many women run into at some point in their lives where they are faced with choosing between a career and motherhood. I used the format of road signs and made a gilded "warning" and "yield" sign - one warning against the phrase "We Can Have It All" and the other purely graphical depicting the slowing down one inevitably undergoes while considering the routes that pull her attention in two different directions. The graphic treatment and colours were kept light and feminine to relate this issue as being one that belongs particularly to women - the shapes in the yield sign taking advantage of their visual similarity to the female anatomy or uterus which by its biology, bestows upon women the greater share of procreative responsibility.

Text Crutch

As I was delving into sign painting, I began questioning my roles as a designer and an artist. As a designer and sign maker, I use text to be straightforward and as an artist I was free to use them ambiguously - so I used this to concept to illustrate this battle between my two identies. I made a sign that explicitly tells the viewer "If you came to see art, check out the other rooms", which begs the question if the sign itself is a piece of art amongst the other pieces in this group exhibition.

Wonder Wrap Inc.

After a year-long residency at the artist-run centre for printmaking in Edmonton (SNAP), I had a solo show of my work - addressing my conflicted relationship with the corporations I worked for as a graphic designer at a print shop. 

A special thanks goes out to SNAP for hosting the show, and Calgary's Alberta Printmakers Society for use of their printmaking facilities.