About me
I love family, trees, and mountains in both East and West. I love art wherever it happens and gardens wherever they grow. Printmaking and working with fabric have been constants in my life. My 6th grade linoleum block print of a lion in the jungle hangs in my studio. I made my first quilt in second grade. It fit my doll’s bed and it also hangs in my studio.
I was born and raised in the East and moved to the Pacific Northwest as a young adult. For many years I was busy raising a family and working in education. When I retired, I rediscovered my connection to sewing and printmaking as I began a serious internal conversation which often turned to mortality, trees and the fragility and resilience that endure in both humans and forests. I try to voice that conversation in books and fabric pieces that reflect these two themes. I often work in collaboration with my woodworker husband or with the group of women that make up Full Plate Press. I find that collaborative work is a nice balance to the solitary time I spend in my own studio and continues the collegial tradition of the printmaking atelier and the quilting bee. I enjoy occasional forays into garden art, installations, and other random expressions of creativity.
I have a BA degree from Middlebury College and an MS degree in Education from Bank Street College and Parsons School of Design in the Administration and the Visual Arts program. My work can be found in various private collections, museums, and university library special collections around the country including the University of California, the University of Colorado, the University of Puget Sound, Savannah College of Art and Design, Baylor University, the University of Connecticut, Scripps College, Purdue University, the University of Miami, and the University of Washington.
Artist’s statement
My work reflects a legacy from my parents and grandparents who were tree farmers, homemakers, and businesspeople who loved poetry and took a keen interest in the world around them. They were all creative people who cared about the environment and the places they lived. One grandmother taught me to sew. Both grandmothers read and wrote poetry. My mother, father, and grandfathers shared their love of gardens and trees with me. I am intrigued by exploring this legacy and raising my own concerns about the environment through books with text and image.
Most of my work is sewn. The act of working with fabric satisfies my need to multitask, and I love the connection this traditionally female medium provides me with my past. The reflections I offer through books and fabric pieces are about the passage of time, accepting and celebrating it as we live in the world, and recognizing the wonder that surrounds us.
Trees are a big part of the wonder for me, their complexity, diversity, size and importance to the human race. So, much of my work is about trees… who they are, how important they are to me and to all of us. Through my books, I try giving voice to my own hope for the future by celebrating the role that trees play in both my world order and the wellbeing of the planet.
