Artist Statement

The words decoration and decorum are rooted in the same Latin word, decorus: handsome and seemly. From this implication, decoration constructs the beautiful world in which we behave well. I believe this: when I see graceful ornament, it calms me, making me realize the order of the world.

Medieval cartographers believed in the ordered world literally; their maps reveal symmetry. They believed that a perfect God created a perfect world. Symmetry visually represented perfection, and their maps of repeated shapes become decorative patterns.

Playing with symmetry has become an elaborate game to me; I balance paired elements but alter color, scale, or form. Using shapes of maps and decorative motifs, I point to paths traveled, open space, and a merging of internal and external worlds. I attempt to construct a new kind of perfect world.