Artist Statement

A sheet of glass customarily represents a sense of finality and the completion of a work of art. When finished, a work is framed and placed behind this seemingly ordinary protective surface. For me, however, a sheet of glass represents a beginning, not an ending.

 

I see these beginnings in the remnants of a broken windshield or the granular chunks trapped within a shattered doorframe. I am forced to form a complete image by mentally restructuring thousands of visual fragments.

 

My work represents my fascination with these fractured images and the technical challenges of the interaction between image and surface. I use broken tempered glass to explore the infinite ways this material changes the hue, tone, depth and perception of the painted image. Whether the subject is an object, a figure, or simply a field of color, the image is permanently obscured and transformed by the application of each piece of glass.

 

My process is as important as my subject and strongly impacts the uniqueness and complexity of each work. Each piece is constructed of thousands of fragments of broken tempered glass. I assemble the pieces, gradually covering the entirety of the painted panel. With the application of the first tiny piece, the image is set and cannot be altered. Although I begin each piece with a vision, the final image is only revealed upon the attachment of the last piece of glass.