The media programs young girls to expect true, eternal love and a fairytale lifestyle when they grow up— so long as they wish hard enough. Instead, we are met with unknown hardships. Then, we end up feeling lost, misled, and delusional when faced with obstacles and heartbreak. Most who have fallen subject to this illusion share a lived experience which has been fed to generations of young girls. These encounters with intent versus outcome bring forth a devilish irony and humor which I explore in my sculpture. 

Recently, I came across a collection of drawings I made when I was about five years old. They show princesses whose tiaras are stacked three stories tall with rhinestones and gold, as well as fairies, wizards, ballerinas, castles, make-believe flowers and unicorns. In between these subjects the drawings are filled with sentimental motifs such as hearts, stars, butterflies and flowers. The drawings invoke memories from girlhood-past. I am interested in their playful qualities as a way for me to process the discrepancies between then versus now. My work idolizes this fantasy world, which never was. 

I transform the characters found in these drawings into ceramic figures that range in scale from doll size to life size. With coils of clay, I build from the ground up. I pinch successive rows to create a frilly, scalloped surface through the pieces, embracing the elements of chance as I work. Clay is a material that sometimes has its own mind. My forms may slump as they please, while I also hold onto a modicum of control to keep the structure from cracking and self-destructing.The overstimulating qualities of the vulnerable, yet sassy figures, the exuberant textures, bright colors, and devotion to maximalism aim to elicit childhood memory and to transcend beauty into rotten excess.