In 2007 I took an audio recorder to Documenta to trace its curatorial premise of three guiding questions. I interviewed artists and visitors, recorded installations, performances, lectures, and street sounds, then made a cast iron accordion as a container. I called it “Souvenir”. I continue to make “souvenirs”, sound objects and installations as archives for experience and inquiry. The audio created for these hybrid sound/sculpture objects and installations is informed by narrative documentary as well as non-narrative experimental sound art. In my work I explore a community or environment and through sculpture and sound recreate some essence of that experience. I have worked with diverse groups of people, such as molecular biology research scientists, residents of an Arctic village, a third-generation western boot maker, and various communities of artists.
Cast iron, sound, smoke machine, 30” x 36” x 36”
Cast iron sculpture, radio receiver, plexiglass, radio transmitter, sound
Cast iron, sound, wooden shelf, 47” x 18” x 11”
Ceramic slip cast seashells, speakers, sound, driftwood
Cast iron, sound
Collaboration with Mz. Direct. Digital photographs, sound
Blown glass, speakers, sound
Blown glass, lab benches, mixed media, speakers, sound
Performance with sound, telephone extensions, web-based map
Bass, sound
Wax, clay, paper, glass plates, sculpture tools, headphones, sound
Cast iron, sound, wooden riser
Cast iron, sound
This group of work uses clothing and related items as foundation of conceptual works cast in iron.
Cast iron with steel clasps
Cast iron with steel clasps
Cast iron, acrylic block, wood plinth
Cast iron, acrylic block, wood plinth
Cast iron, acrylic block, wood plinth
Cast iron, sound, smoke machine
Cast iron, sound, wood shelf
Cast iron, Manila rope, tulle, and iron and steel interior armature.
Cast iron with rust and gold patina.
Cast iron, found wood
Cast iron mounted on beadboard.
Cast iron
Cast iron with steel cable.
This piece was created to honor Saudi Arabian women who were allowed to enter the workforce as attendants in lingerie shops in 2012.
Cast iron, wood riser, audio components, 14 minute sound loop.
This fur trapper’s cap was cast at Arctic Fires Foundry in Wasilla, Alaska. The piece broadcasts a soundscape of interviews with some of the thirteen residents of the remote Arctic village of Wiseman, Alaska.
Cast iron, wood riser, and audio components with sound loop.
Cast iron, steel chain, antique padlock with key, copper filament lining.
Sandcast bronze tile from vintage wig, 10”x10”
Sandcast bronze tile from vintage wig, 10” x 10”
This group of works is based on vintage chemistry laboratory glass. Each piece is a solid block of clear glass with a hollow space where the shape of the glass vessel is visible. Each piece is unique, with irregularities and imperfections such as air bubbles and embedded sand, because the glass blocks were handmade with a sandcasting method in which liquid glass is poured into a loose sand and clay mold.
Six pink glass crowns. Sizes vary from 5”x 5” x 7” to 9”x 9” x 6”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 5” x 12” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 5” x 12” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 4” x 7” x 2”
Clear sandcast glass block with negative impression of chemistry glass. Approximately 7” x 7” x 2”
Detail of negative space of chemistry glass in glass block sculpture.
I create objects and installations that explore concepts about communication and sense of place. My projects layer personal narrative with societal issues, and often engage the audience as creator/collaborator.
As a sculptor who works in expanded media, I create objects out of materials like rubber, plaster, metal, wood, found objects, etc., but I also use audio, video, photography, writing, and performance if it is important to communicating an idea. I am interested in both the process and the outcome.
Remains is a tale of women and the eternal return of troubling histories of oppression. What compromises do we make with that inheritance so that we can live? A dancer grazes among cow bones and petticoat clouds. The music draws her in and out of memories, carrying the past burden of her ancestors. A cow bell bound to her back makes her every movement known. She weighs the choices of her own life, unsure if her path is one of freedom or one she is predestined to repeat.
This project was conceived by Ma 間 Collective as a choreographic response to the visual art installation “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” by sculptor Susan Byrnes. It was performed live and filmed at the Dayton Contemporary Gallery in March 2025.
Performance and Film Produced by Ma 間 Collective: Susan Byrnes (Artist), Nicola Resto (Choreographer), Katie Moorhead (Dancer), Luis Resto (Composer and Pianist) with Nora Barton (Cellist)
Film Directed, Shot, and Edited by: Thiele Brothers (Kyle, Eli, and Cole). Sound recording by Isaac Williams
Copyright 2025 (March 2025)
Ceramic slip seashells, 9 minute sound loop, audio components, wood. This piece is an homage to composer Terry Riley’s famous work “In C”.
45 cast resin brooms, each 32”x 5” x 2”
Two-channel video installation featuring text and images from molecular biology research which immerses viewers in the mesmerizing beauty of microscopic imagery of organisms and the mystery and complexity of scientific language. Installed at Gallery One One, Brazee St. Studios, Cincinnati, OH.
Audio installation featuring a soundtrack of laboratory research scientists discussing their daily habits and work environment in the process of making discoveries. Installed at Gallery One One, Brazee St. Studios, Cincinnati, OH.
Interactive installation featuring a dining table and place settings with artmaking materials (clay, wax, paper) and audio of four women sculptors talking about their artmaking processes. Visitors listen while exploring materials the sculptors discuss in the soundtrack. Installation at Fitton Center for the Arts, Hamilton, OH.
Collaboration with art collective Mz. Direct. This installation with photography and two-channel soundtrack features stories told by a broad demographic of women about their relationship with and perceptions of money. Originally created for the exhibit “Women and Money” at the Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Installation photo from Radial Gallery, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH.
Participatory project for internet and smartphone, culminating in live performance. From interviews with Clevelanders about their favorite aspects of their city, a location map was created and posted on a web page. A telephone number was established so others could call and find descriptions of the places whether or not they could visit the locations. A '“revival tent” was installed for a performance event at the Sculpture Center in Cleveland, OH, where visitors could testify (via writing and recordings) about their love of their city so it could be added to the Cleveland Revival documentation.
Participatory installation with 2-channel video, photographs, light costumes, and dance floor. The work focuses on capturing the movements of dance and everyday life with lights through still photography and video, making the invisible visible. Created during a Yeck Fellowship residency at the Dayton Art Institute and in collaboration with 4-6th grade students from Cleveland Elementary School in Dayton, OH. Video produced in collaboration with Tess Cortes. Installation at the Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH.
Cast sugar headboard and footboard with plexiglass, fabric, and wood frame. Part of solo exhibition featuring multiple domestic space oriented installations in a century-old mansion turned gallery.
Table, chairs, yarn, knitting needles, steel spool mount, paper tags. Participatory project that invites visitors to knit on either end of a continuously expanding garment, providing people with the opportunity to share knowledge of the craft or practice it together. Identifying tags include all makers as the garment grows. Image from installation at Fitton Center for the Arts, Hamilton, OH.
Video projection, magnetic tape, shredder, shredded postmodern and postcolonial theory Xeroxes, video tapes, reclaimed architectural doorframe and transom from Antioch dormitory renovation. This participatory installation features a bed with video projection headboard fashioned from materials reclaimed from the closing and subsequent reopening of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. Materials such as abandoned Xeroxed teaching materials, 1980’s social justice video tapes, reel to reel classical music tapes, and architectural remnants were used to fashion an imagined dormitory room where a student’s dreams and aspirations are woven. Surrounding the bed are weaving frames where, during the course of the exhibition, students were invited to shred and weave their application essays into a “blanket” for the bed. The bed could be reconfigured as a giant book, and the weaving frames attached as pages. The finished piece is part of the collection of Antioch College.
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 26” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Sumi ink on Khadi paper, 36” x 28” framed, $2800
Chinese ink on BFK Rives paper, 34” × 26” framed, $2600
Chinese ink on Fabriano paper, 32” x 24” framed, $2500
Chinese ink on Fabriano paper, 32” x 24” framed, $2500
Sumi ink painting on archival rag paper, 54” x 41” framed, $5300
The Viscosity Series is body of 2D castings with polyurethane rubber, a material mostly used for 3D sculptural mold-making. The resulting works are a hybrid of drawing, painting and sculpture. Although the works appear flat, their material has a thickness that is transparent, allowing me to work in thin layers to create physical depth. My imagery is abstract, although I often draw upon themes and patterns from a broad spectrum of the natural world, from the intense red of geraniums in my garden to microscopic images of axons and dendrites connecting in neuronal networks in the brain.
The series is composed of “Fields”, “Circles” and “Dot Patterns”. The images consist of either single or multiple square tiles that are composed as a single image. Works explore the formal possibilities of the material that creates both a physical depth and the illusion of depth using simple shapes and patterns. The pieces exploit the viscosity of the material at various stages of curing to create hard and soft boundaries, shadows, and irregular forms.
The transparent and opaque qualities of this material reflect our changing field of vision in a world of ever-present screens. Our depth perception is adjusting to a flatter, shallower visual space due to tech devices. These works are intentionally flat, repetitious, boldly colored often with strong color contrast relationships, and without a singular focal or vanishing point to anchor or direct the viewer throughout the visual field.
Cast polyurethane rubber, 48” x 48” x 2”, $7500
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 48” x 2”, $3800
Cast polyurethane rubber, 48” x 48” x 2”, $7500
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 72” x 2”, $6500
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 48” x 2”, $3800
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 48” x 48” x 2”, $7500
Cast polyurethane rubber, 36” x 48” x 2”, $6000
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 48” x 2”, $3800
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2, $2400
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2400
Cast polyurethane rubber, 12” x 24” x 1”, $1100
Cast polyurethanes rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 48” x 2”, $3800
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 24” x 24” x 2”, $2200
Cast polyurethane rubber, 12” x 12” x 1”, $500
Cast polyurethane rubber, 12” x 12” x 1”, $500
Cast polyurethane rubber, 12” x 12” x 1”, $500
Dayton Metro Library, West Branch, Dayton, OH
Dayton Metro Library, Main Branch, Dayton, OH
Dayton Metro Library, Miamisburg Branch, Miamisburg, OH
Village of Yellow Springs, Yellow Springs, OH
Southern Ohio Medical Center Urgent Care Facility, Portsmouth, OH
Image #1 of 5 in collaborative work connecting choreography, dance, and photography with Rodney Veal and Brianna Rhodes, 2021, installed in the West Branch of the Dayton Metro Library
Digital photographs on aluminum, five images, 50” x 40”, 2021
Collaborative project with choreographer Rodney Veal and dancer Brianna Rhodes
Cast polyurethane rubber on aluminum, 2 panels, 16’ x 10’ x 1” and 8’ x 10’ x 1”. Installed in Dayton Metro Library, Main Branch, Dayton, OH
Sixty cast resin fish, variable dimensions. Overall installation dimension, 4’x 40’. Dayton Metro Library, Miamisburg Branch, Miamisburg, OH.
Oriole’s Nest, Swallow’s Nest, Robin’s Nest, bronze. Installed in Yellow Springs, OH.
Plexiglass, acrylic, and spray paint installation in lobby of Southern Ohio Medical Center Urgent Care Facility. Made in collaboration with high school art students at Green High School, Franklin Furnace, OH.
Teaching Artist, Radio Production, Wave Pool, Cincinnati, OH
Teaching Artist, Printmaking, ArtsConnect, Springfield Township, OH
Visiting Artist, Woodford Paideia Elementary School, Cincinnati, OH
Pomerene Center for the Arts, ArtConnects Artist in Residence, Coshocton, OH
Dayton Art Institute Yeck Fellowship Artist in Residence, Dayton, OH
Visiting Artist, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI
Ohio Arts Learning Artist in Residence, Green High School, Franklin Furnace, OH
Ohio Arts Learning Artist in Residence, Kennedy Heights Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
Wood, cast iron, and plumbing elements. Created in collaboration with students from Coshocton High School. Installed in the ArtPark, Coshocton, OH
Students conduct an interview over Zoom with a guest producer.
Students introduce their work to the audience during a live radio micro-broadcast of the stories they produced.
Architecture installation with plastic straws, styrofoam, tape, and murals on paper with acrylic paint. Made with 3-6th grade students from Woodford Paideia School in Cincinnati, OH.
Installation with 2-channel video, photographs, light costumes, and dance floor. Made in collaboration with 4-6th grade students from Cleveland Elementary School in Dayton, OH.
Plexiglass, acrylic, and spray paint installation in lobby of Southern Ohio Medical Center Urgent Care Facility. Made in collaboration with high school art students at Green High School, Franklin Furnace, OH.
Mother and daughter work on wallpaper-patterned portraits during a residency workshop for homeschoolers at Kennedy Heights Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH.
A gobo light filter was created for a performance at Interlochen Academy of the Arts using a student design from a tessellation workshop.
Image from tessellation workshop to design lighting for a theatre performance at Interlochen Academy of the Arts.
This project involved mentoring and project managing the creation of a student-designed bench using reclaimed architectural marble engineered and built by a team of student engineers at the University of Dayton in Dayton, OH.
Audio Broadcasts Produced
2025 Studio Visit Season Four, WYSO
2024 Studio Visit Season Three, WYSO
2023 Studio Visit Season Two, WYSO
Radio WAVE Radio Story Residency, Wave Pool Cincinnati, OH
2022 Studio Visit Season One, WYSO
2021 Contributing Producer, Culture Couch, WYSO
2020 Contributing Producer, Culture Couch, WYSO
2020 Ordinary People Taking Action, 51% Show, Producer, Writer, WAMC
2015 After the Moment: 25 Year Anniversary Mapplethorpe in Cincinnati, Producer, Writer, WYSO, WNKU, WKSU
2013 Jud Yalkut: Visions and Sur-realities, Producer, Writer, WYSO
2012 Basia Irland, Eco-Artist, Producer, Writer, WYSO 2012 Derby Baby, Producer, Writer, WNKU
2011 Blue Sky Summer, Producer, Writer, WYSO Tucumcari Tonight, Producer, Writer, WYSO Patrick Dougherty “Wiggle”, Producer, Writer, WYSO
2005-2011 Radio ArtStreet Weekly Show, Producer and host, WUDR, University of Dayton, OH
2004-2005 Super Sonic Transmissions Weekly Show, Producer, Host, WALF, Alfred Univ.,NY Ghost Lover Weekly Show, Producer, Host, WALF, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
Articles Published
2014-2021 Contributing writer, AEQAI, online art journal, Cincinnati, OH
2018-2019 Contributing writer, The Artists Magazine
2016-2018 Contributing writer, Acrylic Artist Magazine
2013-2015 Art Everywhere, monthly column, Dayton City Paper, Dayton, OH
Exhibitions Curated
2012 MEME: Culture in Transmission, Herndon Gallery, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH
2005-12 Annual Exhibition Series, ArtStreet Studio D Gallery, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH
2009 Creative Soul of Dayton, Armory Building, Dayton, OH
2007 To Abstraction – The Paintings of Curtis Barnes, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH
2007 UD Women Artists, Cannery Center for Art and Design, Dayton, OH
Artist Dennie Eagleson in her studio demonstrating her drawing technique during a recording for the Studio Visit radio series.
Students introduce their stories to the audience during a live micro-broadcast of stories they produced for radio.
Rookwood Ceramic Engineer James Manning has the formula for Kaolinite, what most people know as the smooth, sticky clay from art class, tattooed on his arm.
