Portfolio
Fiber Artist
2D Art and Sculpture
My fiber art focuses on spiritual themes, incorporating Goddess and Nature imagery. Fiber paintings incorporate my handspun yarn and are created via needle felting and embroidery. For my larger sculptures I cover existing pieces in fiber. This usually is done via knitting but most recently has taken the form of hundreds of pompoms.
Costume and Custom Design
While a theater major, my focus quickly focused on costume design. I was fortunate to make costumes for such wonderful productions as Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice and Moliere’s The Misanthrope. As a seamstress I enjoy making one of a kind creations. My unique clothing and accessories are often made from upcycled materials usually found in thrift stores. I have turned tablecloths into dresses and upholstery samples into reusable grocery bags. Each custom design is tailored to the recipient’s tastes and has often included some of their own textiles.
Monsters
Making monsters is my current obsession. I love making monsters because they can come in all shapes and sizes. My monsters take the form of purses, hats and plushies and are created with upcycled materials. Some are knit, others are sewn; each one is unique.
Plushies
As a girl, dolls were never my thing. Stuffed animals were my favorite toys. I named all of mine and not only did each one have a distinct personality, my collection had numerous relationships and interwoven stories. So it’s not a surprise that I find myself making stuffed animals as an adult. Though they’ve now called plushies, my stuffed animals are still unique. I create mine using upcycled materials, either from thrifted yarn or felted sweaters.
Puppet Design and Fabrication
Puppets have been near to my heart ever since I was a young girl watching the Muppet Show. In college I created Bunco Kelly and the Flying Prince, a puppet play based on Taiwanese glove puppetry, also known as Potehi. The story is based on a Portland, Oregon story concerning Bunco Kelly, a legendary “Shangai artist” from the late 1800’s. I designed and made all the puppets and props for this play. Sometimes my puppetry has been on the larger scale, much to my delight. My favorite piece was a collaborative wild boar puppet that I helped create while an undergrad at Portland State University. It played a crowd pleasing part in The Revenge of the 47 Loyal Samurai. Puppets also played a starring role in Puppet Radio Theater, a radio show I co-hosted at KBOO. In 2017, I featured Potehi in Formosa Moon, a book about traveling in Taiwan that I co-wrote with my partner Joshua Samuel Brown. Later, I focused my Master’s Thesis on how Taiwanese Glove Puppetry could be used as a tool of cultural diplomacy. My love of puppetry continues as puppets are part of my Twilly23 product line.
Yarn Bombing
Yarn Bombing is an art form that involves covering objects in yarn. This usually takes the form of knitting or crochet and is noteworthy when the yarn covers public structures. The name refers to the end result-as if an explosion of yarn has covered public space. I have done both small and large scale yarn bombings. My largest involved a team of crafters in Taos, NM. We covered the town plaza to coincide with the annual Taos Wool Festival.
Writing Samples
13 Tips for having a deeper Taiwan Temple experience
Taiwanese Puppetry – Continuing a Rich Tradition
