Artist Biography

I am a Minneapolis based fine artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and printmaking from the University of Minnesota. I use ink and watercolor to render naturalistic aquatic creatures that I have imagined based on my own science studies. My work is focused on the natural world due to a fascination with the biological sciences and my lifelong fear of sharks and water.

Artist Statement: Aquatic Oddities

My work is about preserving and promoting an innate sense of fear and awe with the natural world. Although it is the origin of life on Earth and despite our ever advancing technology, the ocean continues to be the most unfamiliar and alien of the world’s terrains. Studies are beginning to show that changes in water temperature have caused major shifts in ocean currents across the globe. This has caused species that live in the colder depths to appear closer to shore. There are multitudes of new creatures being discovered because of this, some of which are incredibly foreign and disturbing.

    I have always been drawn to the more hands-on aspects of science and biology, and my response to water since childhood has been strong apprehension. Although my fear has kept me from swimming in any natural body of water, I have always had a fascination with the ocean’s strange inhabitants. I spent much of my youth reading National Geographic articles and Zoobooks on marine exploration. As an adult I’ve noticed society’s lack of respect for nature’s more dangerous creations and a general indifference for the world’s great spaces. Through my artwork I attempt to preserve the integrity of my childhood awe by creating an aquatic fantasy land. This work is my own deep sea documentary of the animals that I imagine will introduce themselves as these ocean currents continue to change, fueled by an early fear of sharks and water to provide vivid scenes of curious creatures, real and imagined.

    I refer to my latest series as “aquatic oddities.” Although based in reality, there are elements in all my creatures that are fictional. I use a variety of resources including biology books, marine photo archives, and old maritime texts describing sea monsters and other unnatural oceanic animals. Many of these pieces depict an individual creature and I consider them portraits in the tradition of biological illustration. As I’ve developed some of these new species within my deep sea world I have been working on drawings that create full environments in which the animals interact. This demands a broader scale for my work on a variety of levels and is the next step in both the creatures’ evolution as well as mine as an artist.

    In many ways my work is about contrast. The entities and environments portrayed evoke contradictory responses: beauty and fear, discomfort and intrigue, fragility and danger. These images are introductions to a fictional world that contains dissonant atmospheres; places and elements that the viewer is drawn to out of an instinctual familiarity, but with a sense of discomfort because of their foreign nature. There is an ominous effect in witnessing these events, as though these secretive bodies and places were never meant to be recorded.

    I attempt to convey a sense of dissonance not only in the nature of the compositions and the animals’ forms, but in their actual illustration as well. The style of rendering that I’ve developed for the creatures is about creating opposing textures. Placing highly detailed, ink patterns over experimental watercolor washes is the general process for this work.