portfolio

2023

sculpting with foam

these hand painted fabric swatches were part of a slip dress i painted for myself. i carved akachan out of foam, and hand stitched small pieces of the skirt to create his skin.

cherry blossom resting plate, ladle, and basin.

hongo akachan, 2023

soft sculpture

12x5x5’’

Hirayama House, 2023.

soft sculpture and painting.

15x5’’

altering my paintings through cutting and basting the fabric onto foam is an exploration in memory and world building for me. all my paintings express desire for a world where i can hold all my loved ones at once, unbound by time and distance.

in my early exploration of soft sculptural work, i created a foam pillar that represented my family headstone in Hongo. this pillar accompanied hongo akachan, as it is another object trying to find it’s way home.

woven shoji

all of these weavings were created on a four harness floor loom, with a spaced warp.

Photosynthesize (weave) 7’x14.5’’

spaced warp, bamboo warp yarn, ribbon from my aunties, pale ribbon from a childhood vest, blue silk and gauze from my Cinderella costume my mother made me, fabric from Nippori, cording, stripped vintage dress i wore to tatters.

Trinkets in the Wind , 10’ x18''

multicolor cotton warp yarn, spaced warp painted tulle from a wedding dress petticoat, fabric paint, necklaces, snail shells, stripped up polysilk slip skirts, ribbon, embroidery floss, tulle.

Rainbow Clouds

14’1’’x 3’

cotton warp thread, spaced warp, monofilament, industrial tubing, wedding dress petticoat, glitter tulle, synthetic webbing from Halloween decorations, beading wire.

Purple Plastic Purse (weave)

8’5’’x2’

bamboo warp, spaced warp, ribbon, painted wedding dress petticoat, embroidery floss, chiffon ribbon, metal.

The multicolor transparent fabric was originally a layer to a wedding under skirt left behind at my work that I painted , wore for a summer, and stripped into weft yarns in fall of 2023.