ACCESS
Dougherty Arts Center
Austin, TX
Fall 2023

In 2016 Michael Kors launched the ACCESS smartwatch line.
After seeing an advertisement for ACCESS, I didn’t consider myself part of the primary campaign audience or feel any sincere urge to buy one of the devices. I saw the ads frequently while commuting and noticed my growing interest in ACCESS despite still considering myself outside of the customer base. The product itself wasn’t as intriguing as its potent name, which to me suggested that users could unlock something invisible, essential, or life-changing.

In early 2020 I moved from New York to Texas, returned to college, and began training as an art educator. That year abrupt shifts in Texas and around the world prompted me and millions of others to pay closer attention to the ways in which access affects our lives, shapes the experience of others, and allows powerful systems to function or fail. The works in ACCESS are made primarily of found, inexpensive, free, discarded, and repurposed materials like paper bags, dryer lint, personal clothing, product packaging, and scrap hardware. In prioritizing these familiar things I was investigating what I could access through them—what stories they might hold and who the characters might be. Availability of these materials expanded my awareness of which systems of consumption I contribute most to, several of which I recognize as inequitable and/or unsustainable. Access is an anchor/buoy for questions that develop when I see an advertisement or take a closer look at something I was about to throw away. Here are a few questions that guided the making of these artworks, and that others might consider and push further:

In what ways does access (to information, transportation, goods, etc.) bring us closer to each other?
In what ways does it isolate or endanger us?

For whom are new technologies the most ‘good’?
What are some of the consequences and casualties of advancement?

  • Vermont, 2023
    Colored pencil on polyurethane coated T-shirt and wooden stretcher frame, paper, ink on cardboard, plastic container, smart device packaging, Sharpie ink, found artist’s easel, hardware

  • Self portrait, 2021
    Acrylic paint, tape, hardware, string, ink, friendship bracelet, stickers, foldable blade, and polyurethane on burlap

  • Gingham and red, 2023
    Colored pencil, acrylic paint, and embroidery on polyurethane coated J. Crew shirt and stained wooden stretcher frame, magnets, hardware, acrylic frame, inkjet print; ink, watercolor, and pencil on paper

  • Untitled, 2023
    Original design on reinforced kraft paper tape, paper/dryer lint pulp, polyurethane, paper and inkjet prints in gift card gift boxes, Sharpie ink, staples, brass hardware

  • Rose Garden, 2021
    Oil and acrylic paint on canvas, sticker, collage on etched acrylic window, thread

  • Accountability, 2023
    Found marquee, LED strip, acrylic paint, brass hardware, string, cigar box, digital photo frame

  • Access Hub, 2023
    Wood, hardware, wine crates, projector and projection, nonfunctional smart devices, smart/electronic device packaging, resource materials, paper bags, thread

  • CBDB2B12, 2021–23
    Collage on burlap, polyurethane, bamboo shelf, acrylic on found ceramic vase, hardware, Texan plants, assorted gifts, pyrography, ink, and wood stain on shipping crate