The title Aggregation unifies the exhibition on multiple levels. This cluster of jewelry and wall pieces, despite their different formats, all include enamel, a medium that relies on repeated coatings of glass powder fired onto metal in a kiln. The color and imagery must be built up in layers over time, just as an oyster increases its shell. Images overlap the sculptural forms. Despite the fragility of glass, by fusing it to metal, I create art impervious to degradation by sunlight or water (unlike artworks on paper or canvas).

I synthesize my intellectual interests, emotions, and fears through my artistic practice. I accumulate images and information from a variety of news sources, books, and magazines, and, of course, my personal experiences. For instance, visits to the shore increased my interest in waterline ecological habitats. The clumps of bivalves started as metaphors for familial relationships, then transformed into physical manifestations of acceptance of mortality. Through the work, I am able to contemplate the human condition, from the fleeting human lifespan, to geologic time. As I make peace with my own timeline, I have increasing interest in anthropogenic issues and environmental degradation.

I worked as an archaeological illustrator in India, which left a lasting impact on my preference for decorated surfaces and my grasp of the long view of time. People build and settle; small lives converge to create something larger. The parts create the whole. Composition. I enjoy the challenge of combining metal and glass and fitting all the parts together in terms of function, technique, and concept. I’m interested in exploring ideas of fragility versus durability, and the cycle of death and rebirth.