photo by Jennifer Johnson
BIO
I’m an abstract artist living in Mattapoisett, MA. I have a BA from the University of Vermont in Studio Art, and have studied at the Southern Vermont Art Center and the Rhode Island School of Design. I’m also an accomplished chef, cookbook author, and cooking instructor.
I found my professional passion in a long-time career in publishing after an internship in college. In 2015, I launched my own print publication, The Coastal Table, a food and lifestyle quarterly, after the success of my cookbook of the same name, bringing both my passion for food and print together. The publication received some of the industry’s top honors including Best Epicurean Consumer Magazine and Publication of the Year. After five years of publishing, I was looking for a change. However not long after that decision, I suffered the sudden loss of my brother. After months of being in a very difficult place, I returned to art as a way to cope.
After years of styling editorial photo shoots, I was left with a collection of gorgeous antique one-offs, napkins, and linens that were too beautiful to be left stored away. Looking for a new way to use them, I began an exploration into slow stitching.
Slow stitching was a very meditative process for me, at a time when I needed it most. It offered me time to explore the complexities of each piece of fabric, and the weave and thread of how each was held together. Feeling broken, I started to look for the threads I needed to hold myself together as well.
My work is a study of the past and how to hold onto the important connections we all have to it. It’s my own collection of vintage linens, cookbooks, and family recipes—that continue to inspire my work. My hope is that my work offers a moment of connection to time and place, leaving the viewer with the same sense of calm that inspired it.