The Beginning
Lookout & Wonderland began in 2005 as a home for radical idea making and collaborative creation. The Fiber Art Project was born this same year out of a life-changing encounter with Japanese Indigo and thus the shibori and indigo research project began. My current studio practice grew out of this research, along with traveling and learning the history, production and sociological aspects of indigo in various regions. For many years my studio practice was simply a means of hands-on understanding the methods of dyeing and learning to create and maintain an indigo fermentation vat, as well as using it to properly dye fabrics. In 2011, I began working with Serena Mitnik Miller of General Store on a collaboration of shared indigo love, she sourced vintage garments and I would bring them into the studio for dyeing. Around the same time, I started working with Kathryn Bentley dyeing 69 dresses for her shop Dream Collective applying not only my indigo knowledge but also the abundance of plant dyes and medicines I used for many years prior in my personal practice. Around this time, Serena teamed up with Hannah Henderson and they began working on what would become General Store in Venice, Ca. They asked me if I could make a dressing room for the shop, something inspired by the ocean meeting the shore. I dyed the panels, Hannah pieced them together, Mason St. Peter built the armature and it was installed inside the store. This building of community and effort was the end of my quiet studio practice and the beginning of expansion and growth that lead to my ever-changing current studio practice.