I honor defiance against trauma.
Healing is not linear, sometimes we must open a wound to clean out an infection. Healing can leave scars. Scars can be beautiful. Pain can be beautiful. Pain can also be ugly and emotional. Find humour. Find joy. Pain can be insurmountable. The nightmare of chronic illness. My work is about resolving who I was before Chronic illness with who I am now. What parts did I keep and what has changed? Grief. Who I wanted to be will never be. There is joy in rebirth. In change. I will always be too much for some and not enough for others. I must listen to my own voice. From the depths of my subconscious. Ideas surface and tell me to create. No explanation. Just vision. So clear if I allow it.
My art practice encompasses textiles, painting, drawing, sculpture, sound, and performance to research the healing process. I explore transformation and metamorphosis by engaging with symbolic forms such as wings, fire, metals, and mythology. Wing imagery represents freedom, growth, and the ability to change, alleviating pain and trauma. My grandfather, Bill Erickson (Jan 3, 1925-May 2019), had a profound influence on me as an artist with trauma of his own. He grew up during the Great Depression and had a Scholarship to Art School. Following his cousin’s death in Pearl Harbour, at the age of seventeen he joined the Navy instead of pursuing Art. As a Navy Pilot he flew bombers in Europe, memories of which haunted him on his deathbed. He came back to art later in life considering himself a Whimsical Dabler. I have fond memories of his studio as a child. He always made sure I had art supplies. In some of my work, I honour him which in some ways feels like the healing of intergenerational trauma.
Performance has come naturally to me to embody a different persona, a way of painting emotion through motion. The persona varies, embodying a feeling, a memory, or mythical qualities Automatic drawing with oil pastels and repeatedly exploring a subject that speaks to me has been very therapeutic. Oil pastels smell like creativity and peace. I also enjoy using found materials and upcycling them, transforming them into something new through art. Giving cast away objects a new life. Everything deserves a chance for a new life. Everything deserves a chance to transform. To rise from the ashes of the past. I allow the materials to speak to me about what they want to become. I play. I create installations to express all the things I see in my mind. To give sensorial experiences about my firsthand experiences.
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