For at least thirty years my grandmother’s floral scarves have danced in my mind, brightly colored and flowing freely in the breeze. As children my sister and I pulled them almost daily from the dress up box in the basement. Floral fabrics open my heart and spark my imagination. They remind me of family, play, nature, and my closest friend and creative collaborator, Las Vegas artist Katie Hoffman. She and I have spent the past ten years sorting through vintage fabrics in closets and boxes and trunks and garages and yard sales and barns… collecting, dreaming, sewing, and selling what we could to turn around and collect more.
My goals relating to art include bringing comfort and joy that I feel around these floral prints to others, so the most natural thing for me to do is share these textiles. When I decided to take my work on this path of creating erotic art there was no question that I would include the fabrics that are in abundance around my home and studio. I do hope that others share in and connect with the joy and playfulness that I want to bring into the art. Adding glitter, beads, sequins, and rhinestones just makes me happy so that often happens in abundance!
Being involved with the 12 Inches of Sin festival was entirely inspiring. Having spent plenty of time being censored on social media it is both freeing and rewarding to be welcomed to show my work amongst other talented and like-minded artists. Needless to say, I jumped on the opportunity to do so without a moment’s hesitation.
My part of the exhibition was called “Queerdos”, the work focused on gender fluidity and queer bodies. I feel strongly that there can always be more sexually diverse art in the world (representation matters!!) and the more people who see it the better! It was a privilege to show to the incredibly varied audience in Las Vegas. The 12 Inches of Sin festival was the perfect place to exhibit this work and I greatly look forward to participating again in the future.
Photograph by Katie Hoffman
