Final Project

These are the works in my final project. Most of the pieces involve some oil painting and some collage work of the wood relief prints.

These are sketches for the three final projects I plan to do. They measure 60x40inches. I will use a combination of oil paint, pencil, and woodblock prints to create them

Thoughts compiled from this year's work in University of Michigan hospital, working with patients and work in Michigan prison systems with the incarcerated.

In the context of a hospital, a person has suffered a physical impairment, causing a physical standstill. They must stay in a hospital because they are not well enough to be “in the world”. Some are actually immobile, paralyzed, broken bones, hooked to machines and IVs. Often, the incarcerated have suffered some type of emotional disparagement/polarization with their community. This emotional disparagement could be a mental disorder, the inability to cope with situations, the turn to vices-drugs or violence, the suffering of some type of abuse, or general anger or sadness caused by their lens view of themselves or their community. This has put them in a physical standstill, literally trapped behind bars in prison. And I think about people in halfway homes, and how they are literally at a halfway point, stuck between the standstill they complacently stood in and the greater rhythm of the world. Trying to find their way, or at least a way. Some questions I have recently been asking- how does a person live in a standstill, a place reeked with physical or emotional fractures. How do they continue to breath and sleep, to be aware of who they are, to have imagination, to find inspiration, to figure out how to leave this barren place? Did they reach this place because of a break down of themselves or is it a flaw of their community/society not adapting, not having a place for their physical and emotional strengths and weaknesses?

To advertise for TEDX UofM (encouraging crazy ideas!) we used red duck tape to create a huge X in angell hall on the posting wall. Courtney creating an X in some program, and we projected this onto the wall and filled it in with the red tape.

Back of print
Front of print. Gray handprinted, leaving the edges more gestural than finished looking, with sprawling lines. Black block printed on top


Back of a print. I am experimenting with how the ink bleeds through to the back of the paper when I handprint. Drawings done on top of print with charcoal pencil.
Front of the print. Hand printed fragments of two different blocks.



For this print, I handprinted the pinkish/reddish color and the gray color. I pressed in a swirl/circle motion to achieve this effect. I think printed my block in black on top.

woodblocks printed by press on canvas
red and black inked block printed on top of each other

yellow block printed twice with portions of maroon block printed twice on top

sections of a block printed on wood veneer
black block printed on slitted rives paper
kind of a reduction print of gestural figures
block printed on bamboo
Oil painted color splotches with black ink printed on top using block and press