About Me Me Me Me (please sing in your best operatic voice)

Why Make Art?

I believe that human beings are wired to do a few basic things besides fight to survive: dance, make music, and make art. We can see evidence that even when people were wearing animal skins, they were painting on the walls to record what mattered to them. I am a terrible dancer, I have no musical talent, and I love to make art.

So many things inspire me and make me want to riff off the beauty in the world. If my sculpture or mixed media work makes me laugh, all the better. 

Rather than making art for the shock value or rigorous concept (a gallery floor covered with dirt, or garbage gathered from the street, or a canvas painted all black), I want to explore, experiment, and play. 

I hope you get a sense of the joy I take in making things as you look through my work.

It's the Beauty Thing!

Most of the pieces I make have a conceptual underpinning, but sometimes I make things simply because I want to look at them. 

I want to be able to step back and appreciate their lines, or colors, or the feelings they evoke in me.

I'm Doing it Wrong

Conventional wisdom says to stick with one recognizable direction/medium. I want to run around and try new things, scoop up new input, hone my seeing. I love it when I manage to make something I've never seen before.

So let's be a little unconventional!

clay sculpture of three hands growing out of three feet.

 

And Now for Something Completely Different

Some indication of where I've been and where you can find my work in the physical world.

Gallery Presence

Currently looking for a new gallery. My sculpture work is heavy and prohibitively expensive to ship, so if you are a gallery close enough for me to drive my work to you, let me know.

Shows

  • Chehalem Cultural Center Ceramic Studio Juried Exhibition, 2024, Newberg, Oregon
  • Yamhill County Artist Showcase, 2023, Newberg, Oregon —award
  • Chehalem Cultural Center Clay Studio group show, 2022, Newberg, Oregon—award
  • Solo show, 2018, Ojai Community Bank, Ojai, California
  • Art Detour, 2016, Ojai, California
  • Two-Person Show, 2009, Sacramento, California
  • Visual Verse, 2008, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
  • Another Day in Paradise, 2007, Step One Gallery, Carpinteria, California—award
  • Student Show, 2007, Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, California—awards
  • Visual Verse, 2006, Lewis Clark State College. Lewiston, Idaho
  • Visual Verse, 2006, Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden, Colorado
  • Student Show, 2006, Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, California—award 
  • Visual Verse, 2006, La Conner Quilt Museum, La Conner, Washington
  • Visual Verse, 2005, University Place Art Center, Lincoln, Nebraska 
  • Visual Verse, 2004, Hoffman Gallery at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, Oregon 
  • Seventh Northwest Contemporary Art Quilt Invitational, 2003, American Art Co. Tacoma, Washington 
  • Sixth Northwest Contemporary Art Quilt Invitational, 2001, American Art Co. Tacoma, Washington 
  • Fifth Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational, 1999, American Art Co. Tacoma, Washington 
  • Reflections, 1997, Gilmartin Gallery, Seattle, Washington

Press and Awards

  • October 2023, Best in Show, Yamhill County Artist Showcase, for a clay bust of a woman with a nest on her head.
  • December 2022, Juror's Award, Chehalem Cultural Center Clay Studio group show, for an abstract clay sculpture.
  • August 2007, Third Place, Another Day in Paradise at Step One Gallery, Carpinteria, California, for a mixed media pencil drawing on canvas.
  • May 2007, President’s Purchase Award and second place in its category, Atkinson Gallery (SBCC President John Romos) for a non-representational acrylic/fabric/paper triptych, untitled. 
  • May 2006, President’s Purchase Award, Atkinson Gallery (SBCC President John Romos) for a woman's portrait in pencil titled “Sarah.” 
  • FiberArts magazine,  2005 article on the Visual Verse project. The article devoted a page to “Girl Dreams,” my mixed media textile incorporating an acrylic painting and photos transferred to fabric.

Private Sales

Eight commissioned pieces. Private collections include the
Brakensiek Collection of Contemporary Quilts in Los Angeles, California. 

Santa Barbara City College also bought the work I submitted to two different shows for its permanent collection.