about me
i work under the moniker coalesce because the word aptly captures the ways in which i have succeeded and failed and continue to pursue life. i experience existence through a myriad of lenses, disciplines, and facets of life. i instinctually and intuitively assemble together information, knowledge, insight, processes, mechanisms, tastes, touch, visuals, people from seemingly disconnected sources and combine them in a way that connects and resonates so that transformation, learning, connection, and action are inspired.​
i spent too many years in a career, that while i learned a lot, did little to care for or lift up the humans, non-humans, and things that i care most about. my transformation to artist began when i left that career and opened a couple of restaurants. the restaurants were ridiculously hard businesses, but they allowed me to create – through hospitality and service – connections to people, emotions, the fullness of sharing nutrition, and the plight of our food systems and the people that work within them that continue to influence me today.​
i fully discovered my intents as an artist through collaboration with some amazing teachers, guides, and mentors who have taught me to strip away the noise and be guided by a clear view of self-discovery. today i work to hone my craft, continue learning, and contribute to amplifying the voice of the environment, of cultures, of ways of life struggling to survive under the weight of 8 billion people.
about my work
my work work takes form as sculpture and collage using natural found objects, natural paint, digital photograph, and other low-impact medium. materially and tactually, i am interested in exploring the juxtapositions, dichotomies, and opposition of material, texture, color, shape, and form.​
i examine how we perceive nature, how we exist within the systems that define society, how we interact with constructed environments, and how and why we surround ourselves with objects. through probing natural vs industrial; minimal vs maximal; anti-consumerism vs consumerism; and the value of craft, consideration, restraint and simplicity vs scale, i want to spur deep thinking about these impacts on our culture, our sociology, our individual life experiences, and our relationships with the natural environment.​
i use material, color, and shape as metaphors for what divides us as people, for exploring how we meaningfully connect, and for expressing abhorrence for the constant drive for consumption, expansion, and proliferation.