PROCESS
Since 2018, I’ve strived to make my studio practice as fossil-free as possible and an important part of this journey has been making my material choices as sustainable and local as possible. I started to make my own paper, which lead me to start creating my own ink. I also source sculptural materials from my ecosystem, whether it be single-use disposable plastic waste found outside my studio or pipes found at my local scrapyard.
Scroll below to learn more about the techniques that go into my work, or to learn from me in person, head to my workshop page
PAPERMAKING
I create my own hand-made paper from sugarcane combined with shredded disposable plastic which I call “plasticane.” Bagasse, the waste product from refining sugarcane, and plastic litter are renewable resources in my ecosystem and also embody the continuum of extraction and exploitation of my landscape from the time of enslavement (sugarcane was a staple chattel slavery crop and is still a major crop in Louisiana) to our petrochemical present (plastic is a byproduct of oil refining and a lot of plastic is produced in Louisiana).
I use the “plasticane” paper to make more traditional drawings on paper as well as in paper maché sculptural works.
Images: Field of sugarcane growing in front of a Shell Refinery outside of Baton Rouge, LA; Mountains of waste bagasse at a sugarcane refinery; A worker loading up bagasse for me; Adding shredded plastic waste to the vat of sugarcane pulp; Pulling a sheet of plasticane paper; Letting the water drain from the sheet of pulled paper; Couching one sheet of paper over previously couched paper to create a large piece of handmade paper; Studio assistant Eden Chubb couching paper to form a giant sheet
INK MAKING
Once I started creating my own paper, I quickly realized I would also need to create my own ink and have been slowly building up my own palette of inks and paints that I can create from the ecosystem where I live. Starting from top left moving clockwise: rust, goldenrod, iron oak gall, fossil fuel pollution (coal), brick, sheetrock, copper and indigo.
Images in the slide carousel below: My studio wall with swatches of ink on my handmade paper; Grinding copper in a mortar and pestle, than sifting it to produce a copper pigment; Using a muller and glass slab to mix goldenrod and copper pigments to create my own greenish ink/paint,
