Where to find me: The Stacks Studio and Galleries, Old Mill District, Bend, Oregon

About the artist

I was raised in Europe, dividing my time between London and Italy. I formally began my training as an artist in London, studying at the Prince’s Drawing School until I completed my BA in Fine Art and Philosophy at Smith College in 2014. Upon graduating, I studied at Columbia University before I returned to London and over the course of four years, I worked in a graphic design studio and an artist’s apprentice, while also developing myself as a professional artist through my studies at the Heatherley School of Fine Art.

I moved to Washington, DC in 2019 where I studied at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, exhibiting at the Chilean embassy and the Watergate Hotel. During this time, I formed a much more intimate relationship with my work. I started to tackle ideas about truth and reality, questioning my belief systems, the way I view the world and my conditioned mental restrictions. This influenced my work, because what is a painting if not a glimpse into an altered form of reality? And while art may reference life, it is bound by an individual’s perception, which is always subjective.

After two years, I challenged myself further and embarked upon a year-long outdoor expedition around the United States. I wanted to connect with myself and nature in a more meaningful way; to find where beauty met deep introspection. In the depths of the backcountry of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Narrows, and many other places, and after 800 miles of hiking that demanded my full physical and spiritual focus, I discovered that nature has the power to reveal the truth and will never fail to force a confrontation with reality. This is the basis of my work: by combining elements of abstraction and realism in my painting, I seek to investigate the truth in the context of one’s constructed reality.

Method

Art making can be a very solitary and personal act, and inspiration arrives in many forms. Many of the images I create come from my meditations - visual experiences I receive while sitting in stillness. If you have perused my website, you will see that I work with a number of themes. The vessel is one of those themes. I regularly grapple with what it means to be a spiritual being existing in a physical body and, to me, the vessel is a symbol for not only the body but the container. The container holds. What does it mean to hold energy, to hold relationship, to hold your Self in an interconnected world? As an artist, I often feel like a vessel for creative ideas, allowing images to flow through me to physical manifestation.

Another theme I work with pertains to spiritual evolution. Back in 2018, I embarked on a shamanic practice called soul retrieval. Regardless of whether you believe in a soul or not, this kind of work involves examining previous experiences that may have created suffering or dissociation, and retrieving what was lost from that un-metabolized experience. I meditated daily for almost two years, receiving a number of visions that allowed me to retrieve four soul parts. Each of these parts have different gifts and energies, and, while very personal to me, their archetypal nature connects to the collective. For example, one part I received was a warrior, one was the energetic frequency of pure self love, one speaks to how we can anchor to the earth and the final part is the visionary, the leader. These aspects of self belong to us all. Many of my paintings are from visuals I received during this time. And I am creating a collection of silk and satin scarves from these paintings. Why scarves? Why fabric? Silk moves through your hands like water. Unlike the nature of a ceramic pot or painting, both of which have hard edges, a silk scarf envelopes you in a kind of embrace. It is both a sensual and visual experience. Clothing can also be an extension of identity. Wearing my warrior scarf around my neck can allow me to access that part of me more easily. Engaging with the scarf that represents my most grounded self can remind me that I am a child of the earth. It can hopefully remind you, too, if you ever forget.

As I work with creating a wholeness of self, it is important to me that my art also embodies that mission. From a visual perspective, a wholeness in my art means balance between hard and soft, boundaries and openness. It means that beauty is paired with depth and symbolism. From a conceptual perspective, wholeness means that the work is an expression of soul as manifested through this material realm. I am, and will always try to be, loyal to what is true to my soul. What this means is that the vision comes before the product, and the product comes before the profit. Which is also why I like to negotiate my prices with people. Because if you love my work, I want you to have it. If my truth has connected to your truth in some way, this connection is part of the gift of payment.