For me, making art is simply a dialog with myself in an effort to understand things. Those things can be as basic as the relationships of color or form, or as complex as those of human affairs. Sometimes I think I am just inches too short to see over a wall, on the other side of which everything is revealed. Painting is my ladder.

I work concurrently on several series. Each series is visually distinct and different. The stylistic approach and materials I use to execute them is dictated by the subject matter. The inquiry and concepts that propel the work do have connection and continuity. A variety of subjects have driven my work in recent years but all are generated by my preoccupation with themes of transition, authority and control. I do a lot of experimenting with materials and techniques but it is the thematic exploration that propels that effort. The challenge becomes how to explore deeply puzzling social and political issues, codifying them into a visual vocabulary to make them make sense to me, and ultimately to the viewer

MAX AND ME SERIES

My latest project is a visual conversation intended to get to know my artist father who died when I was an infant. Incorporating his imagery into my work has helped me to understand his thinking and a little of his world,  in a deeper way than I have experienced simply as an observer of his art.

FIBER ARTS SERIES

As a clothing designer for much of my commercial career, I have loved the tactile and vastly diverse world of textiles. I’ve missed that. It was time to embrace them in my art and bring the lessons of clothing construction to making art. Over the last two years I have used those lessons to expand my art practice. Much of my focus is about empowerment, particularly for women. Adopting a medium traditionally associated with women is a powerful way to explore those topics.

 
GARDEN SHADOWS  and Clarity SERIES

For many years now I have made art that is angry. One might miss that, looking at the work, since it is brightly colored and subversively comical. Each new work has been a small battle in my grand war challenging societal wrongs. Maybe it is the hateful political climate or bearing witness to the horrific state of the world that is prompting my need for serenity and genuine sweetness, bringing me to this body of work. These are prayers for cushioning. I am layering human forms in atmospheric gardens, yearning for integration with a natural world that is now under siege, wishing for a lush calm to settle over it all.

FABLES FOR OUR TIMES SERIES

With three dimensional aspects and humor, I’m challenging larger social issues.  The latest in this series is a group of works called Up Against A Wall, a commentary on women’s place in the contemporary art world. As with the other paintings in the series, I am inverting relationships and testing notions of power and memory.. My palette that is bright and pleasing as I hope to persuade the viewer into worlds that may be disquieting. I construct my panels without regard to traditional pictorial formats as a way to mirror the disruption of expected norms. The compositions are an amalgam of dreams, stories, and memories that sometimes suggest morality tales. The narrative is often deliberately left open, posing questions rather than offering answers. My aim is to take on formidable and sobering subjects using humor, without diminishing their potency. In addition to sparing the viewer undiluted doses of reality, it makes for happier days in my studio.

VEIL
These works consider the plight of women living under oppressive fundamentalist regimes. The broader objective is to reflect on human rights for all people. I am exploring issues of enlightenment, tolerance and freewill, using the dual face of the veil as a visual metaphor for multiple perspectives. Veils are barriers; there is obstruction no matter which side the viewer is on. Incorporated is text drawn from numerous movements for human rights, as well as my own writing.