I experiment with different rawmaterials during my studio sessions to conjure themes or stories behind the design and making goals. Objects material characteristics and properties lends themselves to feel, touch, warmth, strength and the seven senses of material properties. It is crucial to understand the fundamental physical origins of material behavior in order to optimize properties of existing materials through structure modification and processing, design and invent new and better materials, and understand why some materials unexpectedly fail.
The Synthesis
Understanding materials through failure sometimes create happy accidents. My go to materials are wood, metal, and fabrics. Example Oregon white oak, black walnut, and Myrtle wood. Leveraging the material properties, in a different way of making that triggers different ways of seeing objects. Mixing and synthesizing materials to create new line of work. The hope is to provoke a conversation that gives insights into the misconceptions of what I am trying to communicate to the viewer through the medium in question.
Exhibit
Fat, funk, skinny, one-legged, Uni, and mixed medium stools.
Building cultural bridges through material linkage. Having empathy, A cross-cultural understanding of cultures, I attempt to find the contrasting similarities between people through objects looking for the signifiers that communicate community.
Material Test
Gestures, hammering, Annealing, hot, and cold the traits and characteristics that create a patina of the stories of our lives. These are experiences we learn from…
“A quality of a gem is directly proportional to the measure of its tribulations”
Materials Bronze, Steel, Wood, and Clay
Gestures Forge, Fabricate, Weld, Join, Build
Qualities Blend, Nature, Material, Community, Space, Activate
Forging & Fabrication
This project aims to explore the unity of opposites by blending visual and cultural vernacular of Kumasi, Ghana, where I grew up and Portland, Oregon, where I currently reside. I am using objects found in familial, communal spaces, specifically stools. In part, the work looks to address misconceptions of what constitutes African art.
Materials Bronze, Steel, Wood, and Clay
Gestures Forge, Fabricate, Weld, Join, Build
Qualities Blend, Nature, Material, Community, Space, Activate
Prototypes
My way of making explores and unifies opposite typologies from different areas through aesthetics to create relatable meaning for my audience. I create functional and sculptural objects for domestic settings that bear visual semantics of African influence.