Artist’s Statement

I am an artist who considers herself a perpetual explorer! I am always curious and get excited when I discover a new medium, material, technique, or tool. I like to get my hands dirty with ink, paint and charcoal and often find my mind wandering imagining all the possibilities and directions these materials might take me.  As a native Californian, I am surrounded by unparalleled natural beauty and interesting man-made structures. I embrace the restorative quality of nature and examine the interrelationship and tension between human activity and our planet. My artwork explores themes relating to the political, natural, and built environment but also investigates color relationships, mark-making, texture, composition, and space. 

I create silkscreens and paint in both acrylic and encaustic (an ancient art form dating back to the Greeks which involves the use of heated beeswax and colored pigments). In my acrylic paintings, I may rearrange, reorder and abstract landscapes to reflect the conflict and chaos that has emerged from climate change. I often use collaged elements and photographs I have taken in my paintings to create layered meanings. My encaustic work, which ranges from monotypes to photo encaustic, and abstract paintings employ harmonious colors to create surreal and mysterious atmospheres. I am intrigued by light and how it interacts with surfaces. I am currently exploring spatial relationships and how to achieve depth and translucency with both transparent and opaque colors. 

Art can be stimulating, transformative, and uplifting.  I find refuge in my creative process and paint to heal not only because I struggle with a chronic illness, but also because I need an outlet to process the many challenges our society and planet currently face. I likewise create art to soothe, provoke and inspire, and I hope the viewer will connect with my imagery on an intuitive and emotional level. 

Biography

I was fortunate to grow up surrounded by artists at the Brentwood Art Center, an art school in Los Angeles founded when I was a young child by my parents. As a teen, I learned to weld, entranced as I watched my oxy-acetylene torch transform junk yard remnants into found object sculptures. Years later, I was captivated by the jewel-like, luminous, and ethereal qualities of encaustic painting, and I was thrilled to find a medium where I could once again use a torch to transform. As an adult, I’ve experimented with printmaking, photography, and sculpture, but the ancient art of encaustic, with its mesmerizing flow of molten wax, ignites my creativity with its ability to integrate all my preferred media. I have found my voice in encaustic and mixed-media painting, but continue to explore other mediums such as cold wax. 

I studied English literature and art history at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and law at UC Hastings. My law practice was cut short when I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, and creating art became a kind of therapy. Over the years, I have attended classes and workshops at Kala Printmaking Institute in Berkeley and the Richmond Art Center. I have also studied with Certified Golden Working Artist Tesia Blackburn and Encaustic Educators Jeff Hirst, Lisa Pressman, Paula Roland, and Dietlind Van Der Schaaf. I am a co-founder of NorCAL Wax, a group of encaustic and cold wax artists living in Northern California who are looking to engage and share their artistic journeys with each other and the community. I am also a founding participating member of Catalyst Art Lab, a community of artists and renowned art instructors who offer a variety of creative and professional development opportunities. I have two grown children and live in Albany, California, with my husband and dog, Tucker, and I feel gratitude daily watching my young adult children thrive. I enjoy creating art in Berkeley, CA, at the Firehouse Art Collective, a lovely and vibrant community of working artists.