I am a visual artist working in collage, assemblage sculpture and altered books. My practice explores identity, memory and the history of the African diaspora. Vintage and contemporary images collide to convey how the past informs the present.


Blog candy from the 800-lb. gorilla

One of the ATCs for those lovely peoples who put in suggestions to name the 800-lb. gorilla: Tally, Mija, Cathie and Stacie.
From Tally: "Tar-zhay" for Target;"Las Vegas for kids" for Chuck E. Cheese
From Mija: "No Morals Mart" or "Smallheart" (more love for Wal-Mart); "Suckway" for her local Safeway supermarket; "Greedy Boss" for Reed and Cross (a high-end gift shop in Oregon).
From Cathie: "Ghetto Gap" for Old Navy. (In case y'all didn't know, Gap owns Old Navy and Banana Republic.)
From Stacie: "Group Death" for Group Health Cooperative (it's like Kaiser Permanente); "Boring" for Boeing.I glued images down first, then surrounded them with Golden light molding paste. Then I mixed Quinacridone Red and Oxide Yellow to make orange, and painted the paste.
Next, I painted the image as well as the paste with a drop of Iridescent Bright Gold (Fine) mixed with some gel matte medium. It helped tie the image to the paste color, but the paste was a little too bright.

So I coated it with a wash of Michael deMeng's special secret sauce that he uses to grunge up his creations. (See, I'm using what I've learned, Mom.) Then a hole punch in the corner for some fibers and voilà -- coolness.Fun, fun, fun. I like this game.

Feelin' a little snitty

A little overwhelmed, but not completely