Her artwork aims to acknowledge the search for and the loss of familial identity despite preservation, but also aims to cultivate a common sense of feeling and experience even though the people photographed may remain unknown and separated from the present day. Overall, time makes no difference because relatable feelings and experience transcends time to create connections and nostalgia between those photographed in the past and the viewer in the present.

 

She is interested in researching the past through her community and government archival databases, such as Recollection Wisconsin, Ancestry.com, and the Library of Congress archives. All of her pieces are reflective of archival images that would otherwise remain dormant and unseen. Painting these images again, allow them to pulled from the dust and revisited with eyes 100 years from their time.

 

Here the artist acts as a medial guide to connect audiences with their counterparts and equals from many years ago, a time traveler of sorts, and diffuse the differences that separate. Even the photographs the artist has chosen to paint hold personal memories that she relates to. Even though the details of the photographs or the details of the artist’s personal memories are unknown, the viewer is encouraged to connect themselves with the image before them.

 

Most of Allie’s artwork is painted in brewed coffee and instant coffee. It creates inexact, glossy textures and patterns, a distinct smell, and soothing color tones. Coffee itself gives a feeling of warmth and security, a layer of comfort, but also gathers and connects friends and family together. The smell alone can invoke habitual thirst and recall memories as well.