When I arrived at college, escaping West Virginia, yay!, I was an oblivious 17-year-old. I joined a curriculum that was really training, indoctrination, attack therapy, and an artifact of 1930s pedagogy: architecture school.
My first artistic attempts at capturing my children with a camera were not as satisfying as I wanted them to be, so I signed up for photography classes at CHAW. I liked it so much, I returned for more classes and eventually obtained a Master’s in New Media Photojournalism from the Corcoran.
I compare my pieces to political cartoons, but with textiles and buttons rather than pen and
paper. Each of my hangings tells a story, describes an experience, or illustrates the double
standards of which we are all guilty.
I was not one of those kids in high school who was into photography. You know, the
kids who knew about cameras and darkrooms. Had I not stumbled into majoring in art history at
Yale, I wonder if I would have ever thought to take a course in photography. Because I had no
background in studio art, photography appealed to me as the so-called “royal road to drawing”,
something a gazillion people have likewise thought, ever since the nineteenth century.
I went home and told my aunts, who were REAL artists. They told me to paint what I wanted AND gave me better brushes.
This upheaval and its dislocations changed my perspective and made me more observant of people and my surroundings. It enhanced my visual acuity and the creative spirit that I now express through art.
my paintings are inspired by watercolors themselves – they engulf and permeate each other, they go where they please.
my paintings are inspired by watercolors themselves – they engulf and permeate each other, they go where they please.
Ever since childhood, nature has been my sanctuary where I catch my breath and meditate on the spiritual bond I experience when I’m totally immersed in its beauty. It is this deep personal connection and the childlike wonder of our natural world that I wish to share with others to motivate them to cherish and preserve the environment that I hold so dear to my heart. I want to bring attention to our codependent relationship we share with nature, how it can heal the soul and bring a sense of solace in our otherwise chaotic society.