engraving on plexiglass and wood, cotton rag paper, mounted on wood, screws and nuts, sewing on fabric, oil pastel, pencil, found paper collé
20” x 12” x 2.5”
cleaning out the vessel, hold on….. was the first body of work I completed after becoming a full-time professor and after years spent focused on raising children, supporting family, and caring for others. The series emerged from questions about identity, caregiving, and what remains when the roles that define daily life begin to shift. The vessel became a central metaphor within the work. It functioned as a container for memory, responsibility, love, and expectation, while also reflecting a growing awareness of depletion. The work considers what it means to spend years sustaining others while neglecting one’s own needs, and how care can exist alongside exhaustion. Throughout the series, acts of holding, carrying, containing, and releasing become recurring themes. The title suggests both maintenance and renewal. Cleaning out the vessel becomes an act of examination, asking what has accumulated over time, what can be let go, and what is needed to continue forward. The work marks the beginning of an ongoing exploration of care, labor, nourishment, and the search for balance between tending to others and tending to oneself.
