Working in series, I create multiple works at the same time as an idea develops. While the ideas vary, one body of work usually feeds into the next and my processes remain similar. Each of the thumbnails below is a group of works in a specific series as noted.
If a day represents a life, the way that light is refracted through trees helps keep time. In this series of works, I considered the light in the sky change over the course of a day, and especially the effect it had on the leaves in oak trees. Each time of day has its own light, and that parallels the phases in our lives. The patterns overlaid suggest that there are larger patterns in place.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 16x20”; 2022
Pre-dawn is waiting, pregnant with possibility and a time of transition.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 16x20”; 2022
Dawn is newness, beginning and aflutter with possibilities.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 20x26”; 2022
private collection
Morning is glorious and hopeful, warm and multiplistic. All the possibilities are there, moving in and out of focus.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 36x36”; 2022
Noon is a peak, white-hot, strong and forceful, washing out some things to focus on others. We overlay our hopes and desires atop what is there before, creating something new.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 36x36”; 2022
Afternoon is immersed, flourishing and settled into a steady pattern of work and life.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 24x30”; 2022
The pink hour in late afternoon is a basking display of confidence and joy.
acrylic, image transfer on canvas; 24x30”; 2022
The blue hour is settling, relaxing, and accepting the shadows and fading of color.
acrylic, texture paste, collage, 36x36", 2023
When sunlight filters through trees, they purple in our vision, as motes and rays penetrate the leaves. This is especially noticeable at dusk, as everything takes on a violet shade, called the purkinge effect.
Constellations have guided humans since the beginning of time, and yet, I wonder about how those seemingly unchanging shapes are only that way because of our perspective from Earth. If we could see our solar system from another galaxy, or even another planet, wouldn’t those pinpoints of light form different patterns? I was thinking about how each of us views reality from our own individual perspective, which makes each reality different. What I see as red or describe as beautiful might be a different hue or elicit the opposite reaction for someone else. Celestial is my series of works thinking about confronting the vastness of the world and it’s many perspectives, and sharing my view with the audience. Figures are seen from the back or moving through spaces at a distance, letting the observer in on their view. Star charts remind me of the seemingly random patterns that might form different shapes if turned a bit.
laser cut wood collage with image transfer, acrylic paint; 10” diameter, 2022
private collection
laser cut wood collage with image transfer, acrylic paint; 10” diameter; 2022
laser cut wood collage with image transfer, acrylic paint; 6” diameter; 2022
laser cut wood collage with image transfer, acrylic paint; 6” diameter; 2022
laser cut wood collage with image transfer, acrylic paint, 10.5 x 8x.5”, 2022
private collection
laser cut wood collage with image transfer, acrylic paint
10" dia, 2022
private collection
Working with pieces of a fallen tree had me thinking about life and the passage of time. The golden light of late afternoon led me to considering the end of the tree's life, it's golden hour. These pieces also helped me process a recent loss, celebrating the golden hours lived and accepting the inevitable end.
gouache, acrylic, image transfer on collagraph print and wood collage, 22x15x1”, 2021
Private collection
acrylic, image transfer on wood, 18x12.5x1”, 2021
private collection
acrylic, image transfer on wood, 17 x 11.5 x 1.5”, 2022
private collection
gouache, crayon, image transfer, 5x7”, 2021
private collection
gouache, image transfer on watercolor paper; 5x7”, 2021
private collection
gouache, crayon, image transfer on watercolor paper; 5x7”, 2021
private collection
In the Attachments series, I've thought a lot over the last few months about how our attachments are formed, and more importantly, maintained, especially when travel has been limited. Observing people connect has long been a hobby of mine. As a longtime educator, I’ve watched students connect with one another; as a mother, I help foster those connections with family for my sons. Cycles of growth, the daily sunrise, continuous waves in the ocean: they are all part of a larger pattern.
lasercut wood with acrylic, image transfer
28x14x1”, 2023
lasercut wood with acrylic, image transfer
2023, 27x25.45x1”
collagraph print with image transfer, collage, gouache
paper mounted on wood panel
2021, 9” diameter
Private Collection
collagraph print with image transfer, collage, gouache
paper mounted on wood panel
2021, 9” diameter
Private Collection
collagraph print with image transfer, collage, gouache
2021, 9.75”x9.75”
image transfer, collage, modeling paste on collagraph print on paper, mounted onto wood, 9.75x9.75", 2021
private collection
image transfer, collage, modeling paste on collagraph print on paper, mounted onto wood
2021, 9” diameter
image transfer, collage, modeling paste on collagraph print on paper, mounted onto wood
2021, 9” diameter
The roses in my recent pieces aren't random flowers. They were pictures that friends had taken of meaningful moments in their lives. I am drawn to the structure of the petals, and the contrast of the texture of the petals to the often vicious thorns lurking just underneath.
For this series, I made image transfers of the photos in various sizes, and then added a collagraph print of Islamic geometric patterns using my little etching press. There was additional collaging and painting until each little rose study felt like it could stand on its own. Some of the pieces got an additional embossing in the press; others were masked with handcut vignettes around the pattern on the other side. All of them got a few pieces of lasercut pattern pieces, which I think of as an underlying structure in the roses.
Collagraph prints with collage, modeling paste and ink, mounted on wood & ready to hang
11" diameter, 2021
private collection
Collagraph prints with collage, modeling paste and ink, mounted on wood & ready to hang
11" diameter, 2021
private collections
Movement is part of many spiritual practices from circumnavigating the Ka’aba to walking labyrinths to wrapping tefillin, and many others. In this series of works, I began with a simple drypoint print of concentric circles to explore this idea. Inspired by watching birds fly in circles around the Ka’aba in Mecca mirroring the people below, I found birds and circles to be a starting point for this exploration.
drypoint print with image transfer, collage and magnet, 11x15”
2020
drypoint print with image transfer & collage , 11x15”
2020
drypoint print with image transfer, collage & ink; 11”x15”
2020
drypoint print with image transfer, collage and acrylic paint, 11x15”
2020
drypoint print with image transfer, collage & acrylic paint, 11x15”
2020
drypoint print with image transfer, collage and acrylic paint, 11x15”
2020
drypoint print with image transfer, collage & acrylic paint, 11x15”
2020
When we began sheltering in place in March, 2020, I had more time to work in my studio. I got to thinking about the many artists I have learned from and been inspired by over the years, beginning with my current community of artists who had been supportive of my reborn career along with those who inspired me in my early years as an artist.
I began making thank you notes to artists in their studios, sometimes using image transfers of photos of them, which I then printed on top of with drypoint etched plates, and then adding paint to the printed pattern. By tessellating the image into patterns, I am sharing the inspiration of seeing other artists working to get to my own work.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Rosie Schinners is a Canadian collage artist.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Brandi Hofer is a figurative artist who includes her children in the artmaking process.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Dzee Louise is an artist who works in multiple media and is inspired by neurons and science.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Twyla Exner is inspired by the wonders of nature and the idea of electronic technologies gone awry.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Danielle Krysa creates new narratives from old images and is also the the writer behind the contemporary art site, The Jealous Curator.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Rebecca Holden weaves rich visual narratives in painting and drawing.
colored ink on drypoint print
14” x 15”
2020
Richard Diebenkorn’s studio shows his process of carving shapes in paint through an ongoing shaping and reshaping of three dimensional space into two dimensions.
colored ink on drypoint print
6” x 8”
2020
Henri Matisse has long been a major influence and tutor for my art practice, especially from seeing how his work evolved over time.
Images from everyday life are reordered into strict geometric patterns. Never having identified with Islamic geometric patterns for their role in decorating surfaces, I now use them as a construct to order the world around me.
Watercolor on paper, 9.75 x 13.5″
2018
Watercolor on paper, 9.75 x 13.5
2018
Watercolor on paper, 9.75 x 13.5″
2019
Watercolor on paper, 9.75 x 13.5″
2019
Watercolor on drypoint print, 9.5 x 13″
2019
Watercolor on drypoint print, 9.5 x 13″
2019
Watercolor on drypoint print, 9.5 x 13″
2019
Watercolor on drypoint print, 9.5 x 13″
2019
Watercolor on drypoint print, 9.5 x 13″
2019
Watercolor on paper, 9.75 x 13.5″
2019
