Repair, 2024, watercolor and pen on paper, 7 x 18 inches.
I identify as an artist, craftswoman, and activist for democracy in equal parts. Working with tactile processes in a range of mediums including drawing, paper collage, wood sculpture, and embroidery, my studio output extends out of folk-art and craft traditions while also being connected to minimalism, geometric abstraction, Op art, social practice, feminist and political art. Alongside the spare use of text, the visual language of my work is rooted in a lexicon of shared American quilt patterns and symbols that represent social justice, motifs from nature, queer culture, and the greater universe that is our home. (To read more about my practice, link HERE).
In tandem with my studio work, in recent years I’ve generated several projects to bolster civic engagement in the United States, Under the umbrella, Art for Democracy, the project began with a widespread anti-hate campaign that launched in the Bay Area in 2017 that dovetailed into a national public art initiative to boost voter participation through a series of public posters, billboards, free downloadable files, and images shared on social media that circulated across the country ahead of the elections in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Posters from these efforts have been collected by the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the History Collection at the San Francisco Public Library.
A Language for the Commons, 2021, hand-cut paper, 60 x 70 inches
IMAGES
The images below show a selection of works made between 2014 and 2024 — drawings, embroidery pieces, collages assembled with hand-cut and painted papers, and low-relief wood wall sculptures. The works on paper are fitted in handmade wood frames by Smallworks, SF.
A Language for the Commons, 2021, installation view, Sarah Shepard Gallery