Artist Statement

My passion is beauty. Seeking it out, identifying it, capturing it, creating it.
Beauty is everywhere and in everything, all it takes to see it is desire, patience and maybe an open mind.
Because my passion is so encompassing, I cannot settle on just one way to transmute it. Currently I use paint, paper, metal, semi-precious stones, photography, fiber, clay, ink, glass and my iMac to pull the images out of my head and give them life. On occasion, it can seem like I’m being pulled in too many directions, but I wouldn’t give up any of them - they allow me to communicate in so many different ways.

When I think about my work and try to identify commonalities in the various mediums I work in, the one thing that sticks out is color.
Color is astonishing and powerful, defining the intangible (emotions, moods) and the tangible (objects and shapes). I love pure color, especially when I paint, I almost never use black or white, and I see myriad colors in the simplest things. Color helps me tell stories, convey feelings, define the curve of an arm and I surround myself with it, in my house, on my person and in my art.

Ultimately, everything I create I create for me, either to expunge a tenacious vision in my head or to satisfy my desire for more beauty in my life. It is my hope that others will also see the beauty in my work, but it makes no difference, I will continue regardless.
The search for beauty provides a never ending quest.

Biography

It all began in San Francisco, California, springtime, 1970.
My parents didn’t belong together and parted soon after my first birthday. My father was barely present for the next 38 years, but my mother was my guiding light, my shining star, my inspiration. Sure it is heavy on the cliches but it is true nonetheless.
She was the epitome of the strong, stoic, amazonian woman that I wanted to become. She was also, first and foremost, an artist. She never had the luxury of being able to pursue it as a career, but no matter how many hours she worked she always made time for art. And I figured out early on that it was the place where she experienced the most joy and I wanted to be part of that.
Money was tight, but she always managed to come up with the price of admission for us to go to a King Tut exhibit at the DeYoung, a flower show at the conservatory or a live performance of Camelot with Richard Burton downtown. She had beautiful books on Georgia O’Keefe, Gustav Klimt and Winslow Homer. The radio was always playing jazz, classical music and 70‘s rock. I reveled in all of this culture and was touched with the idea that beauty was everywhere just waiting to be seen and was worth the price of discovery.
She could be rigid and demanding - never letting me be slapdash with art projects we began together. Sometimes that could dampen my joy in the process but it also forced me to be more focused on my intentions and what I wanted out of my time and ultimately, my life.

I studied painting, photography, printmaking and jewelry at Pratt Institute.
After the graduation ceremony, I went off to England, with the vague idea of seeing the world. I worked as a bartender and saved my money, planning the adventure of a lifetime. I was going to wander until the money ran out.
I traveled through much of Europe, then crossed Russia and Mongolia and finally arrived in China.
After two years, I returned to San Francisco, a little older, a little wiser and ready to start my life, whatever that meant. Plants, a cat, a job...
I made jewelry and did window display to feed my creative spirit. It wasn’t really enough but it was something and I still hadn’t figured out where I was supposed to be.

In 2001 I moved to Los Angeles and immediately felt reinvigorated.
I began to delve into all of the mediums I had dabbled with in the past and braved new ones with a fearlessness I had forgotten I possessed.
In 2008 I began to travel again, taking my camera on adventures to Egypt, Mexico, Italy and India. My wanderlust knows no limits and there are many adventures waiting in the wings.
And this brings us up to date, with me, still in Los Angeles, attempting to, every day, create something beautiful, and share it with you all!