The Aviatrix has been my artist name since 2013.
That was the year I started creating wearable art that allowed me to transform into a myriad of creatures, deities, historical figures and more. I have been an artist and a maker my entire life, but it was the underground nightlife scene of NYC, and “burner” culture, that first inspired me to combine my love of avant garde fashion, and obsession with hats, with my wild inner world of living goddesses, fantasy, and embodied archetypes. The result has been unfolding ever since, transforming myself and others into elevated ethereal beings that give permission to the wearer, and those around them, to embody their own power and divinity.
My background and degrees are in English Literature, dance, acting/theater, Spanish, Ayurvedic Nutrition and medicine, Yoga, Cooking and aerial arts. For many years I taught yoga and conscious healthy eating workshops.
I grew up in Oregon and moved to NYC right after college. I have taken breaks to live in England and New Mexico, but have been a New Yorker since 2012. My daughter was born in 2018 and I’m raising her on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Decorate Everything.
Color and Design are the Enemies of Evil.
My art is inspired by the archetypes and deities that I believe exist within us, if we open our hearts and eyes to see them. In modern western life, opportunities to express the divine, mythical, royal or animalistic within us can be rare. When I create, I tap into a multiplicity of different expressions of life - deities, creatures, elements, historical figures. I sculpt and weave these qualities into crowns that evoke this magic in the wearer. I believe that something revolutionary and healing happens when we take self-celebration and self-expression out into the world, and I love empowering others by that experience enhanced, elevated, magical. This is my way of trying to make the world a more conscious, evolved place.
My art engages my hands in a process that brings beauty and order into the world. As a child, I was obsessed with factors, numbers, patterns and fractals. I constantly played with math and spelling in my head, factoring out numbers and rearranging the letters of words to make new words. Something about this part of my brain finds peace in bringing items together in a flow of symmetry and harmony.
I’m passionate about combining myriad materials in order to bring forth an archetype or power. I love sculpting with wire, fabrics and other materials to create a base; and my decorations usually involve luxury and antique fabrics, metal filigree, ethically sourced or upcycled bones and feathers, crystals and stones, beads, trim, found objects, upcycled jewelry, personally significant items and more. When I cannot find just the right piece of decor, I will often create it myself by piecing materials together to tell the story the character in the headpiece wants to convey.
For me personally, my most joyful moments have been when I dress up and rise above the mundanity that we fit ourselves into every day. If we’re aware that life is temporary, what do we truly wish to embody and express? What wants to come out and play? What uniqueness longs to be witnessed, if we move beyond self-doubt and into boldness?
These are the qualities that I want to crown.