Keeper of the Plains

Agricultural territories of the United States suggest harshness, rigor, grit, masculinity; but it is the role of the female that provides sustenance, in her interminable silence. Any deviation from these imposed expectations threaten her intelligence, authority, and autonomy. We witness a woman at various points in her life caring for the men and children surrounding her, caring for herself, through the generational knowledge of females past. Both embracing and bucking against the expectations of agricultural life in our modern age, it is a compendium of dreams and the wishes of the female unraveling as heard on the winds of the Great Plains.

NOW PART
OF

American Great Plains

This region covers the space between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes/Appalachia Plateau, venturing down into the eastern part of Texas and expanding north through Canada all the way to the Arctic Ocean. It is 4% of the world’s Tallgrass Prairie; one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the world.

Artist Statement

The sounds we make to interact with one another, our environments, our feelings – these are what strike empathy at the core. Hearing stories and watching performers gives us the chance to observe a life perhaps similar and yet unlike our own, creating sympathy and reflection. But when the performance goes beyond well-structured technique into occupying simultaneously the history of the rehearsed text and the present energy crafted in the space by the audience present, that is when empathy is found.

Americans are complicated, resilient, and caring people with a myriad of avenues leading them through life. I believe exposure to the depth of a person, community, or culture is necessary if we are to be inspired to elevate our standards of living. I believe art is the bridge of history to present day and into future possibilities.

Born in the Great Plains, having lived in multicultural DC, the history-rich Appalachia, and now residing the heartland again, I make art that elevates the biodiversity of a region, how we might protect that, and how we might resist and let it inform our humanity. I seek truth in our roots and ways to break the binds that come from them. I seek the sounds we make as we navigate our regional homeland.

I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife and these experiences in life inform all that I do. I create art that amplifies women’s voices, perform knowing my presence defies expectations, demonstrate the needs and power of a parent artist through teaching and working in the industry, and model to my family that a life full of creative fulfillment is necessary. I am telling the stories of the persistent women in my life and in lives lived alongside me.