My story

I make because I need a way to make sense of what cannot always be explained.

My work has grown out of an ongoing relationship with loss, grief, impermanence, and the mysteries of being human. Grief has changed the way I see the world. It has made me more aware of how fragile and fleeting our lives are, but also of the beauty that can exist within that fragility. Making has become a way for me to sit with difficult things — to remember, to question, to transform, and sometimes simply to breathe.

Working primarily in metal, glass, and photography, I create wearable objects, sculpture, mixed media, and installations. I am drawn to materials that can be transformed through heat, pressure, time, and touch. There is something deeply meaningful to me about taking raw or seemingly ordinary materials and changing them into something unexpected. In that process, I often find a metaphor for grief itself: we are altered by what we experience, and although we cannot return to who we were before, something new can emerge.

My background in philosophy continues to shape the questions behind my work. I am interested in the spaces between life and death, presence and absence, permanence and decay. I don't necessarily make work to find answers. More often, I make it to give form to the questions.

Art has given me a language for things I cannot always put into words. It has helped me process grief, hold onto memory, and find meaning in experiences that have no easy resolution. For me, making is both an act of exploration and an act of connection — a way of acknowledging what has been lost while remaining open to what is still here.

Ultimately, I make because I believe art gives us a way to hold what is difficult — to remember, to grieve, to question, and to find beauty in the process of becoming.

I hold a degree in Philosophy from Baylor University and a Master of Fine Arts in Craft/Material Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University. My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at SOFA Chicago, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, and the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, TN. My work has also been featured in publications including Metalsmith, the 500 Book Series, and Flowers in Art: Contemporary International Artists.

I am a member of the Virginia Glass Guild, Community for Ethical Jewelry, the Society of North American Goldsmiths, The Enamelist Society, and the Glass Art Society.