ARTIST STATEMENT 

The core focus of my work surrounds the ideas of exploring glass and light. This has become evident in making my own neon tubes as this light source. I am captivated by the way the light from a neon tube illuminates the surface of other objects I have created. The way the light can reflect and alter different mediums is what drives my work. This is demonstrated by how different the work appears when not illuminated. Neon light is a captivating source of colorful luminescence. I select each color for its purpose of how it reflects onto the material and to help convey the mood of the work. There is something unreplicable, attractive, fragile, and rebellious about neon lighting. 

As a maker I am always drawn to handmade materials, but look to the future to imagine what is possible with new technologies emerging and how this can alter artwork to come. This is shown by marrying the machine made materials, moldable plastics, and ceramics with the illumination of hand bent neon light. My work is very personal, each work must contain an element I have manipulated with my hands, whether that be the neon tube itself or other material added to the glass. The illumination of the work completed is a reflectance on how I am feeling internally after each and every piece I make. As the neon light is transferred and reflected onto the other mediums it floods the work with new meaning. The flood of emotions, curiosity, wonder, exploration, excitement and hope are transferred to the viewer from each piece created.  

I strive to continue to challenge neon as a material and see what it is capable of as an art form. Neon is a subcategory of the glass art world and I believe it can soon be in the forefront.