Bio:

I am a fine artist and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. I was born and raised in North Andover, Massachusetts, and am also a dedicated student of zen and yoga, a swimmer, and a musician. I currently work locally, as a school bus driver in the town of Lincoln, MA and live in Arlington where I keep my studio. Before I moved to Arlington last year, I lived and worked in Cambridge, on-and-off for about 10 years!

Artist Statement:

My artwork embraces the dual worlds of “low” art, that which is incidental, rough around the edges, plainspun, naive, and “high” art, derived from formal study, art historical reference, attempting beauty, siloed, precious, precocious. The scope of my practice is very vast, adopting every medium from painting, drawing, and sculpture, to video, written word, and music, though, for the last three years, I have focused mostly on building an array of handbuilt quilts derived from my own self-taught style of quilting. Using nothing but hand-me-down fabrics sourced from friends and loved ones, the most basic sewing kit (needles, and pins…) and dental floss for thread, I busily hand-make these quilts which explore a range of styles, themes, and content, from pure abstraction to representation in a painterly manner. 

The arc of my practice tends to be a reaching/searching for formats/subjects that synthesize the myriad modes of creative thinking that I operate within. Which means that I’m usually trying to ‘collage and combine’ materials and ideas. All at once, these quilts are like paintings, messages, sometimes political reactions, objects d’art, shamanic assemblages, blankets to be wrapped up in and lived in. As an artist, I aspire to continually evolve my craft toward what is deeply authentic to me, as a spiritual quest of self-knowing. It is a curious thing to be surprised by (and maybe delighted by!) something one has created themselves. 

Collaboration is also a big factor in how and what I do. More than anything, I love to create among, around, and with others as a form of collective exploration/discussion. I believe everyone has genius for art (which goes back to childhood, where we learn to play!) which a good art teacher/mentor can help draw out. So, I adopt that role pretty often and spend a lot of time lending my discipline to projects which enhance the common good... or are simply fun.

One of my guiding lights is that I strive to lend my unique art and soul to the collective uplift and inspiration of our culture. I’m proud to be a Massachusetts-born Lebanese-American artist and I’m grateful to have been able to walk the path of the artist throughout my life so far.