It was in a class called Accessorizing Painting with Wendy Edwards that my infatuation with plastic bottles began. Forced to come up with an idea or material to utilize throughout the semester in nontraditional ways, I landed on plastic bottles, and I couldn't be happier with that choice. What started as a simple exploration of materials soon became an environmentally conscious means of bringing natural and whimsical forms to life from unnatural and harmful materials. Now in my use of these bottles, I use almost exclusively ones I have personally drank, tying myself to the very building blocks of my pieces and further cementing the personal meaning that I strive to express in my work. 

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Included in this series is my very first performance piece, the Unbottled Peacock. I created a bottle suit one piece at a time; a mask/crown, a body accessory, and leg warmers. They were painted to mimic natural patterns, particularly those found on insects. I then procured a morph suit that eliminated my features and turned me into a simple orange silhouette. In the morph suit, I put on the bottle costume and became the Unbottled Peacock, a whimsical silent character, joyously dancing and strutting about with the audience.

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