About
My work lies in the intersection of creativity and care. Drawing is the foundation of my practice, serving as a tool for observing and engaging with both the world outside and myself within it. From here, I move through phases of working with various materials including oil painting and ceramics.
I care about bodies and their faces, the way they move, and the places they shape. I contemplate the context they exist in, and the structures that enable and confine them.
I care about the worlds within bodies: people, personalities, their psyches in all shapes and sizes. Strongly influenced by art therapy and gestalt therapy, I use the specific qualities of each medium to allow different parts of me to express themselves effectively. I see myself as moderator and facilitator of an internal collective, which at times works together harmoniously, and at times does not.
And I care about the materials I use. Much is salvaged and reused, though not everything. I am aware that my work leaves a certain, albeit small, ecological footprint, which I see as a responsibility to make my use of them worthwhile.
The importance I give the understanding of my art as care work has been informed by feminist perspectives shared with me, for which I am very grateful.
Art Therapy
My interest in Art Therapy arose while going through an intense personal process in Gestalt Therapy, and intuitively using my drawing practise as a means of emotional self care.
I began combining drawing with meditation and mindfulness techniques, drew and painted my dreams and used expressive abstract drawing as a means to directly express emotions.
I found these methods very helpful, and wanted to share them, but knew this would be irresponsible to do without proper training.
I have now completed my Creative-Coaching certificate at the Vienna School for Art Therapy (Wiener Schule für Kunsttherapie). The schools ethos is rooted in the humanist tradition in psychotherapy. I also completed the basic training in Gestalt Therapy at Irgendwie Anders Akademie in Germany.
Art Education
Since 2020 I have been teaching the Diploma Program for the International Bacalaureate (IB) in Visual Arts in the Montessouri Campus Wien high school.
Drawing from this experience (and the IB course certification) I give individual and group tutoring for students in need of support as they complete the Diploma program in VA. This involves both hands on technical instruction, and creative guidance in the conceptual development of the students body of work.