Rainbow Ridge Studio
As a Veteran Artist
As an active-duty soldier, my opportunities for political expression are limited. (A fact that I am proud to embrace and believe is imperative to the survival of our country.) Glasswork is where my voice gets to mingle with the varied interpretations that can be assigned to any art, even if my intentions with a piece are never fully transparent to whomever may see the exterior vision.
Viewers apply their own truths, equally valid, protecting my own right of hidden expression within raw daylight.
"the waiting."
When the greatest burden is not a barrier itself, but the uncertainty of never knowing when acceptance may become exclusion or when value might be overshadowed by rhetoric. A threat that remains suspended overhead, like a silent Hammer of Damocles hovering above a camouflaged ceiling of glass, invisible only to those
not standing beneath it.
"And Still, We Dance"
She refuses to abandon her right to joy, even as control of her very being is inescapable. A needle representing the ability to create, to heal- but here being used as the weapon of division. The industrial stars shine above with patriarch shadows, as the gold-plated stage contains her every movement. Her face mirrors your own, as the struggle touches us all, even if you think you somehow escaped the chains.
And still, we do this dance.
"Pinned."
Pinned on…pinned in…pinned down…pinned up. One female soldier through the layered lens of uniformed camouflage. The mosaic of the top panel is reminiscent of military camouflage, pinning the naked form of a female silhouette. One word with the many interpretations shared by those of us who have volunteered to serve.