Feminine Rage

“Feminine Rage” is an interactive piece that demands not only to be seen, but to be confronted. Viewers are invited to peer into the open, screaming maw of a woman frozen in a moment of fury. But this is not theatrical anger. This is the rage born of being dismissed, diminished, and denied.

Inside her throat, you will find words—things men say to women that ignite a quiet, daily fury. These phrases will change regularly, reflecting the persistent drip of patronization, erasure, and entitlement that so many women endure. You are invited—no, challenged—to return, to read, to listen.

This work is not subtle. It is a mirror, a megaphone, a mouthful of truth. My hope is that brave souls, especially men, will reengage often, sit with the discomfort, and begin to unlearn the habits and phrases that keep women small. This is not just a scream. It is a call to awareness, to empathy, and to change.

Feminine Rage is a mixed media piece that engages the senses. It is constructed from raw OSB plywood, a material chosen for its coarse, unfinished texture and structural honesty.

Quay Street & Huron Ave. in Downtown Port Huron, Michigan

Secret Keeper Dolls

“Eve”
The Mercurial
As a little girl of the 80s, I desperately wanted a Cabbage Patch Doll during the height of their popularity. However, they were impossible to find, and my mom couldn’t afford one. So, she and my aunts decided to track down knock-off kits. They gathered together and stuffed and sewed them for me and my cousins. I wasn’t thrilled with the doll because the noses looked strangely different, and they lacked the butt signature that all my friends’ dolls had. They would pull down the diapers to prove their dolls’ authenticity. Looking back, I realize I might not have been grateful then, but I am now. Knowing my mom’s efforts reveals the depth of her love for me.

It’s taken two years to create these dolls. Ever since I was young, I’ve had a deep love for dolls. I think my mom might have had an inkling of this when she dressed me as Raggedy Ann one Halloween. Coming from a family with limited means, I would eagerly read the American Girl doll magazine, dreaming of owning one. My desire was so strong that I once wrote to the magazine, sharing my admiration and secretly hoping they might gift me a doll. They replied kindly, but I never received a doll. Now, I find myself drawn to buying dolls, aiming to restore and reawaken their charm.

Pip
The Penniless
“Mitty”
The Dreamer
“Clarissa”
The Chronically Ill
“Juliet”
The Romantic
“Ophelia”
The Submerged
Hester
The Hidden
“Lenox”
The Grounded
“Lolly”
The Pleaser
“Pandora”
The Curious
“Marmee”
The Nurturer

Pottery Pleasure: The Chaos of the Clay

BEFORE LAST FIRE: My lopsided tea set was my first attempt at throwing in many years. It is clunky and heavy but my daughter will like it 🙂

I was chatting with a couple of artists in the pottery studio last night and we were all fan-girling about pottery and why we love the process.

1. Wet clay – smoosh, bend, spin, squeeze, pull , poke, roll, seal and smooth… the tactile sensations are positively therapeutic. 

2. Drying time – will it crack? Warp? What will be, will be, so let’s start something new while we wait. With clay you make while you wait, so there’s always something to do and something to look forward to! 

3. Leatherhard – scratch, smooth, sand… it’s all about surface quality. 

4. Bisque – First foray into the fires of hell… j/k, well kind of. Your baby is in there hopefully baking to perfection, but it could explode… or the thing next to it might and break yours along with it. It feels like gambling (in the best way possible). 

5. Glaze – Whether you dip or paint it on, glaze is it’s own kind of magic. Many kinds paint on one color and then when glazed comes out completely different. Depending on your surface the dimensions of glaze will lay differently because it’s essentially liquid glass.

5. Glaze Fire – Once again your baby goes into the kiln and now you’ve invested a lot of time and energy into it. This time the stakes are even higher. 

6. While you wait, and working on other things you wonder how your piece is fairing in the last fire. You tried something new – are you a genius? Will the glaze run down the surface just right? Will it be exquisite?

7. The moment of truth – You see your piece transformed by glaze and depending on the results your feelings range from elated, surprised or “hmm, it happened like that?”

8. You learn – You begin to plan for the next piece waiting in the wings. 

The moral of the story is that you’re always learning, experimenting and looking forward to something. 

The process makes me feel magical, like I’m working a spell. I love it.

AFTER FINAL FIRE: The blue rutile is just stunning.

Working in 3-Dimensional Mediums

I like dolls. I’ve always liked them. When I was a little girl I mothered them. Now that I am an adult I mother my children, but I’m still fascinated with dolls. I like to draw them, sew them, cast them, sculpt them, etc.

I like the idea of creating a vessel that holds a spirit, or if you’re not magically inclined – a persona.

I taught myself how to cast in plaster (ahem, thank you YouTube) and started doing the “Mandrake Babies” in November of 2022. When you cast you have to think in terms of mountains and crevices. You can’t have any steep angles or your mold won’t turn out. This learning curve helped me when I started experimenting with 3D printing, because there are similar limitations.

I find it novel that something as old school as plaster casts could help me with designing in CAD – a very modern technology.

The most basic way I can explain what I think the definition of art is (imo) is that it’s about making connections, whether it be ideas or techniques. It’s having a flexible enough brain to bend them around each other and come up with something new or push a type of art further than before.

Boot Prototype II

The Maker’s Slog

I love blazing a trail. I do NOT love drudgery when it comes to making.

When I used to sew clothes as a teenager, I can remember feeling annoyed at doing the second side of a pair of pants or a shirt.

Creating something once is a problem solving challenge, doing it a second time, is just work.

With this in mind I dreading the 13 pairs of shoes (26!) I was going to have to sew to finish my Secret Keeper dolls off. I had them cut and ready to go, but couldn’t seem to make myself sit down, and actually do them.

I started doing searches online for “bulk doll shoes” hoping perhaps I could just buy them instead of make them… but I wanted the dolls to be 100% handmade, so I was frozen in a pattern of procrastination.

Then Christmas came, and we gifted our family with the 3D printer.

Knowing design software in general gave me a leg up on the learning curve of 3D design, but there was still A LOT to learn to create things from scratch.

After approximately 7 attempts at this boot I finally made something that looked like a boot!

The beauty of 3D printing is now that’s it’s been created, I can just set the printer to work and walk away and go start a new challenge— my favorite part.