FINE ART

As an artist, I draw from stories and mixed-media for inspiration. I revel in combining materials for a more tactile and unexpected experience for the viewer. Found & Fauna has come to be my most whimsical and magical voice, taking unabashed joy in the fantasy worlds of my imagination.

FOUND & FAUNA: FAIRYTALES AND FOLKLORE MEETS FINE ART

I have always believed in the power of stories. Throughout history, humans have used stories to pass on wisdom, teach valuable moral lessons, and explore beyond the scope of our own lives. Those stories are our heritage and have often used animals and plants as mythical stand-ins for our consciousness.  As our culture turns ever more to the digital world, I believe it is imperative that we still learn the lessons that our ancestors found in nature, and the stories that they wove.

My art has its foundation in storytelling, grown from my work as a costume designer for theater and film. Under the name Found and Fauna, I manipulate multiple mediums to create pieces that give life to the characters that populate my imagination and the tales of the world. I was raised on a steady diet of folklore and fairytales, and I channel my passion for legends and lore into spinning my own tales and building the fantasy world of my dreams. Often, I am inspired by a myth or a snippet of folklore, and I sometimes write my own stories to accompany the pieces. In my sculptures, I use found and up-cycled materials to give my creatures and the stories a tactile grounding in our reality. In this way, I am weaving our world and theirs together so that we can see the fleeting edges of magic that they bring into our daily life. These very recognizable pieces of our world show how the fairytales of our youth are not so far out of our reach.