Artist Statement

     I prepare my mind like a sculptor prepares to carve a sculpture from a block of marble. Stopping. Visualizing what the end result will look like. I grab my material- happiness, comfort, interesting, eclectic, challenging. What will come out the other end of my sewing machine?  I begin to understand how clothing is put together. Every seem. Every stitch. Every stop and start. Every movement of my needle. I sew to calm my nerves. I sew to show everyone who I am through my talents and my taste. I sew to prove myself, to all who gaze upon me and all who doubt me. I sew for God.
     I picture the end result as unique. Vintage. Individual. What can I make that people will notice? What will my given talents from God allow me to make?  I think modest with a twist of professionalism and post-World War II. I think Dior. What a man. I sew the garment as to be stable and long lasting. I hardly pay attention to trends, but when I do, I add a twist of myself. I picture garments that can start conversations. Garments that turn people's heads and get them thinking. I construct my garments not for attention, but for when on-lookers gaze upon me, they see a little of themselves in my work: the quirky, fun-desiring side; their inner child, their wildest dreams.
     When I begin to sew, I reminisce. What am I holding in? What do I want to create the feelings of while wearing my piece? I sew with rainbow taffeta, silk and velvet, and shower curtains- to show my living side.  To express the me that I never could as a child. To be the light that I was never able to be. Even if I fail at exactly what it was that I was trying to make, I end up with something more different than I could have even imagined (often as God does for us through all things), and I end up having so many blessed conversations through my most odd pieces. I crave to have people tell me that they wish the could let go of as much as I do, and wear the things they want to wear. I love hearing that they wish they could stop caring what people think of them, and not follow main-stream society. I crave to have my on-lookers minds crave things that are not understood or even accepted by "everyone else"- right along with me. I want to shape the world with the freedom that I experience within the comforts of God. He accepts us- no matter what we wear.  Why not wear things that allow us to grow as people and not as the produced robots that culture tells us we should be? Why follow the norm? Why not dress joyfully and comfortably, and uniquely? Why not pick statement pieces that reflect our individual personalities that God has blessed us with?  I sew for love. I sew for understanding of self. I sew, for God.