When
I was growing up in Queens, NY, I spent many afternoons playing at the
crowded house of my best friend, Mary Kate Walsh. She has a very large
and loud Irish Catholic family, nine total, who were living in a cramped
3-bedroom house on 109th street. We explored every inch of that home,
often getting kicked out of the curtained-off basement bedrooms of her
older siblings, and sneaking into her parents’ bedroom when no one was
home. Every bed in the house was covered with a quilt handmade by Mrs.
Walsh. She taught a quilting class at the community college and on most
afternoons could be found at the dining room table working on her latest
project. I loved that house.
My childhood memories of quilts and their comfort led to an interest in the power of texture and tactility to evoke an emotional/sensual response. After spending my early years designing primarily on the computer, I choose a different development method to branch beyond that scope. I started creating compositional studies using other means, such as architectural models and material experiments. Image making based on actual physical forms, versus purely computer-generated structures, began as my reaction against the over-populated Tron-scape I saw around me. Often times we only experience life as a highly mediated encounter, removed from any human quality or ability to connect. For me, sincerity lies in a return to the intimacy of tactile design. The sensual experience draws attention to our immediate and present situation, providing a fleeting moment of focus in our hurried world.