With the inner workings and motives of the technology we rely on becoming increasingly opaque, and a governing body whose interests move further from the needs of the masses while catering to its basest fears, I offer art as a balm for the agitated soul. I create because it reminds me that there are things I can control, and with each creation I strive to spread humor, hope and empowerment. Each piece is built as part of a journey towards personal healing with the hope that the healing may be spread to others. My work has a do-it-yourself aesthetic that makes it simultaneously accessible and complex. The small scale allows for intimate viewer interaction that encourages the building of a relationship with the object. The works find moments of joy even in pain, and both are there for the viewer to access. Her latest series involves an exploration of technology and our tenuous relationship with machines that we feel like we need but we don't understand.
Avery majored in Visual Arts and Art History at Bowdoin College, where she was awarded the Anne Bartlett Lewis Memorial Prize in Visual Arts. Avery worked professionally as a scenic painter, graphic designer and prop fabricator in New York City. She has created props for the shows Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, White Collar, Blacklist, Luke Cage and the movies Noah, Inside Llewyn Davis, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many others. Avery received her Masters in Art and Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University where she also worked as a facilitator and educator in the Teachers College Thingspace and worked at an Education Fellow at the Whitney Museum. Avery is currently enrolled in the Visual Arts MFA program at UMass Amherst where she works as a woodshop facilitator and undergraduate fine arts instructor, and is a member of both the Visiting Artists Committee and the All-Campus Makerspace Planning Team.
