New Work! New Methods!

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I’ve been exploring the ways bears intersect with spectacle—how they are displayed, controlled, and transformed into performers. This digital drawing of a bear on a circus high-wire was created in Illustrator as part of that research.Once the drawing was complete, I began considering how to present it. I wanted to introduce a sense of tension by framing elements of the image—restricting the space around the bear without confining the bear itself. Below is a mock-up of the concept I developed.

Because I work primarily in vectors, it felt natural to translate the bear portion of the drawing into a cut-out using black vinyl. The crisp, clean lines of the vinyl echoed the precision of the digital illustration, while the matte black surface added a new layer of visual and conceptual weight to the bear’s silhouette.
Below are some in-progress images. I ended up cutting the bear three times—the blade kept dragging through the image, forcing me to simplify the design. Reducing the detail allowed the machine to render the form more cleanly. I also shifted direction with the rope, opting to hand-cut the negative space in the vinyl to make placement easier.

The install went much more smoothly than expected. This piece, along with several others from my ongoing body of work, was featured in the Inspiring Imagination: Educators’ Art Collective exhibition at the UNT Paul Voertman Gallery. Curated by Francisco Araujo and Yuni Lee, the show highlighted the creative practices of Lead Instructors and full-time faculty in the Foundations program at the University of North Texas.​