Since moving to Charleston in 2022, I’ve been engaging with its visual and material history mostly through the lens of tourism, myth and visual culture. I used my time as artist in residence at Redux Art Center as a way to respond to, engage with, and in some ways manipulate what I’ve found.
Joggling boards originated in Charleston and the surrounding Low Country sometime in the early 1800s, usually seen on the porches of plantation homes. When someone sits on it, the bench ‘joggles’ back and forth and up and down. The first joggling board was developed as a way to cure rheumatoid arthritis. They later became known as ‘courting boards’, as their length was deemed an acceptable way for courting couples to sit near to one another— they would each sit on one end and as they talked and ‘joggled’, they’d slowly move towards each other until they touched.
They’re typically 16 feet long and traditionally painted Charleston Green, a dark green that almost appears black— a color you’ll see on homes throughout Charleston, which originated during Reconstruction: the union sent black paint to help rebuild the city, but residents thought it was ugly so they added yellow and green pigments to make it less so.
Wood, plaster-coated foam, house paint
Dimensions variable (approximately 30 x 40 x 7 inches)
Part of loose joints with Joe Karlovec at Redux Art Center
Joggling Board, 2024
Created from an inquiry into my experiences growing up in a Christian youth group, focusing on the games they had us play that were in service of some sort of biblical lesson. Pudding Piece (prototype I) is based on two of these games. One involves playing Pictionary using pudding as the medium and your tongue as the writing instrument. The other involves two sides of a sheet of glass covered in pudding and kids race to see who can lick it off the fastest, essentially touching tongues through the glass the whole time. In creating this piece, I imagined a whole catalog of specialized equipment designed specifically for these games; something a church would order and store in a closet and wheel out whenever it was time to play Pudding Pictionary.
Countertop laminate, wood, glass, pudding, found stools
54 x 84 x 36 inches
Pudding Piece (prototype I), 2021
Handmade wood plaques, found taxidermy tongues, house paint
36 x 40 x 5 inches
Glossolalia, 2022
Found inflatable turkey decoys, light stands
Dimensions variable
Rafter, 2022
Found baseball card protectors, wood, pine tar
8 x 24 x 6 inches
Integument I, 2022
Beeswax, Dye, vinyl faux wood flooring, wood, LED strips
20 x 40 x 3 inches
Vestiges, 2022
Archival inkjet print, countertop laminate, plywood, found sign
28 x 32 x 4 inches
Payment, 2022
Cornhole, 2020
Archival inkjet prints from found imagery, handmade maple frames, plywood, bean bags
14 x 11 x 2 inches
The Boxer, 2020
Archival inkjet print, vinyl, stuffing, wood
12 x 10 x 4 inches
3 plywood panels, video monitors playing original claymation video shorts, found imagery and objects from Charleston, SC and surrounding area, insulation foam, specimen pins, house paint
36 x 24 x 6 inches each
Part of loose joints with Joe Karlovec at Redux Art Center
