Metallic gold paint on glass
This large-scale typographic installation was created for Storied Owl Books as a way to greet the neighborhood during the long Covid shutdown. Letters on one side of the building say HI, while the other side says READ in metallic gold letters that could be seen flashing in the sun from a block away.
(Collaboration with Stephanie Watson)
Brush pens, colored pencils, watercolor paper, ribbons, branches
This project is an outdoor pop-up in the form of an awards table. Chalk signage on the sidewalk directs passers-by to our awards table to claim the mysterious medal they have won. A medal for what? That’s what we are there to find out!
As award-winners arrive, we engage them in a conversation about their accomplishments, large or small. Invariably, the interaction starts out superficial and silly, but quickly segues into surprising depth as participants unpack conditioned feelings of unworthiness and dare to celebrate themselves.
Custom paper medals are created during the course of conversation and are presented for participants to keep at the end.
(Collaboration with Stephanie Watson)
Brush pen on paper, binoculars, Great Horned Owls
From the beginning, they have always been “our” owls. For years, two Great Horned Owls have started their new family in the treetops next to Lake Nokomis, drawing crowds of hushed, adoring fans like neighborhood royalty. My collaborator Stephanie and I are fans too, but on this occasion, we were fans armed with sketchbooks.
This one-time pop-up featured free commemorative portraits of the owl(s) of your choice. Visitors were invited to point to the owl they would like us to draw, which we then captured in ink sketches and gave away as souvenirs.
Moss on city sidewalk
When I lived in New York I worked in an area that felt impossibly far away from green space. This ephemeral installation proposes miniature parks in the sidewalk cracks of Manhattan as a way to remedy that. In German, parks are known as the “green lungs” of the city. This tiny version offers conceptual breathing space and a reminder of what is missing.
Exterior latex paint on wooden bus bench
Originally installed in 1968, the once-white Rainbow Bench has always been something of a fixture in my south Minneapolis neighborhood. It bears the distinction of being the only bus bench in the area that is not plastered with advertising, which unfortunately has also made it a repeated target of graffiti. To solve this problem, I decided to surreptitiously paint the bench in rainbow colors, as a tribute to our LGBTQIA+ community, as well as the inclusivity efforts of Living Spirit Church, located on the same corner (45th Street & Bloomington Avenue).
This guerrilla art project led to much speculation and a friendly ongoing partnership with the church. As it happens, the church actually owns the bench, so in 2022 they invited me to give an artist talk. I confessed everything.
Graphite on paper, existential dread
Depression is an experience that isn't easily put into words. Translation is an attempt to give outward expression to an internal disquiet through the physical gesture of repetitive drawing.
Wine glasses, water, watercolor, paintbrushes, overhead projector, acetate, markers
The Aquaphone is a literal chromatic scale consisting of glasses of water tuned to the twelve notes of the chromatic musical scale, each represented by a different color. The audience is invited to make colorful drawings on blank staff paper, then “play” their compositions on The Aquaphone, using paintbrushes as mallets.
A version of this project was installed during the Artery 24 group exhibition at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis, where drawings were made on acetate and projected onto the wall of a freight elevator.
Water-soluble eyeliner, Webster’s English Dictionary
This word-based pop-up temporary tattoo parlor was staged as part of The Loft Literary Center’s gala, Countdown to Infinity. Visitors were invited to close their eyes and intuitively page through the dictionary until their finger landed on what they sensed was “their” word. The definition of the chosen word was then ceremoniously read aloud and transcribed as a hand-drawn temporary tattoo onto the participant’s skin for the evening.
Cardboard box, holes, black gesso, pencil, sleeping bag, stick, arctic wind soundtrack
Starbox is a portable stargazing experience where the viewer is invited to cozy up inside a large cardboard box studded with holes that map the constellations of the northern hemisphere's winter sky.
Originally installed during December finals at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, participants were encouraged to escape into the stars, with arctic winds howling just outside.
Earth, stick
This large-scale drawing of my thumbprint was etched into the ground in what was then my new neighborhood, near Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis. It was created in the transitional space of a dirt field that existed for a matter of days before being re-seeded as a formal park.
In the process of making this mark, I explored questions that were on my mind:
What does it mean to belong to a place?
How does place affect our identity?
How does our presence impact the land we inhabit?
What does it mean to be wild?
The drawing was bulldozed within 24 hours of its completion, leaving no trace.
Colored tissue paper, bubbles, daisies, candy, mandolin, guitar, paper bag, boombox
Elevator Music is a playful week-long series of performances and interactive installations that transforms the awkward stopover space of an elevator into a dynamic destination. Colored walls, bubbles, yellow daisies, live bluegrass, free candy, and staring contests are a few of the surprises that await unsuspecting riders.
Pencil, sketchbook, sloth
This drawing series started as a ritual to get through the long Minnesota winters. Every week starting in August, I go to the Como Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul to sit in the tropical wing with my sketchbook. My only objective is to show up and make a drawing of Chloe, the resident sloth. Careful observation where nothing is happening allows me to be present and revel in the process of doing things slowly.
