Hi! My name
is CodyElle.

Cody watches and listens with amazing comprehension. I was immediately impressed by her remembering how to roll ink onto a brayer with only one demonstration. (This is actually huge when it comes time to ink a plate, and many don’t master it for several sessions).

Printmaking is a bit of a tricky medium. It’s a two-step process. There is the plate making skill, and there is the plate printing skill. Cody was game to push at both, and then much to my chagrin, paint, draw or fingerprint into the borders of the print after the actual print was pulled. A no-no in the traditional printmaking world, but important to her. She told me that maybe my college printmaking professor should allow fingerprints.

It was actually these “doodles” if you will, that spoke to me about what to present to her for the following classes.

Cody’s comfort level and willingness to explore is what truly impresses me. I can show her a technique, and she will know what she wants to create with it. There is a high level of intuition and ease with what she makes, using this new information to create her own imagery. What seems to be at the root of her artistry is personal narrative. She would love to own a Shiba Inu, so she made one to carry with her on a tote bag.

Cody is focused and intent on bringing her vision to fruition. She is very comfortable in the studio, and I’m sure will be glad to show you around!

Over the course of this Spring 2025 semester, Cody has been exploring sculpture through found items (for example, dryer lint, dried plants, egg shells, pasta shells, marbles - the list goes on!). She has practiced new material processes (for example paper-making with screens and creating paper maché with flour and water) to build sculptures of invented characters that are organically playful and delightfully bizarre. Her sculptures grow out of experimentation with form, color, and balance from week to week. Like a chef experimenting with new ingredients when cooking, this semester Cody enjoyed using matte gel, tempera paint pigment and flour in surprising ways.

Cody is more likely to describe her work as she is making it than she is to explain it after it is completed. While making the work, Cody often narrates what she is doing from the perspective of her sculpture (“this character is named . . . This is her . . . because he wants to . . . he needs . . .) and over time has she has begun to “think aloud” about her thought process (“I have an idea . . . What if we . . . Maybe we could”) which shows a level of independence, risk-taking, and vulnerability that was not present when I began working with Cody a year ago. Cody thrives when she is given materials that she is able to use in nontraditional ways (for example, a cattail as a paintbrush), make a mess, and engage with the sensory experience of the work material as much as the “content.”

As Cody continues to grow and develop her practice, here are some ways to extend the work she is already doing:

1. What other implements can you use to create work? Make a drawing or sculpting tool out of a found object and see how it functions. Can you draw with a fork? Sculpt with a pinecone?
2. Find a drawing or painting you have already made and turn it into a new work: can you rip it up to collage it? Turn it into a sculpture with paper mache? Build a replica of it out of found objects?
3. Do the same drawing or make the same piece every day for 7 days in a row. How does it stay the same? How does it change? Think aloud while you work, as if you’re talking to your work and the work is talking back to you.