catharsis! Handmade paper, abaca, flax, cotton, recycled & found fibers, acrylic, oil pastel, colored pencil, graphite
2019 - 2021
catharsis ! is a body of drawings, paintings, and collages on/of handmade papers made during Fall Concentration at the Penland School of Crafts. It was exhibited as a solo show at the Looking Glass Gallery in Boone, NC in November 2021
My thoughts have always felt jumbled up, like they’re moving too quickly to express or understand, so I often think out loud. Drawing and painting feel like that: putting a mark on the page is the most direct line to making my feelings and ideas tangible. Working abstractly is a kind of automatism, a process through which I can follow my instincts and allow colors, forms, and marks to express what I can’t quite reach with words. Most of the pieces are untitled because they serve more as parts of a larger exploration of abstraction through color and form rather than acting as individual pieces. Like catharsis, this work is unexpected and unmeasured, arriving as a burst.