BIO
My work is deeply connected to ideas about home and nurturing. My Mother was a sometime poet, storyteller and devote of all things literary. I grew up enveloped by ideas. One of my earliest and fondest memories was visiting the local library in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, situated in what seemed to be someones old home. The fecund smell of old books filled me with wonder. That’s when she was the least in her "melancholy". I seemed to existed tangentially, in a perpetual state of “hunger” for her love.
I was transplanted at an early age to Detroit when my father took a job at the tank plant. Although they came here by choice, my uprooted parents never quite acclimated to Michigan. I have always felt like an outsider in spite of a loyal cadre of friends and associates. and have remained emotionally in a place “between” homes.
I always loved making things and spent countless hours at the kitchen table coloring, but during high school got distracted by the theatre. I planned to take it up in college but a serious illness prevented it. That same illness led me into research on mind - body interaction. I began to explore chance art making processes as a way to access the subconscious. During my recuperation I met artistic kindred spirits, and became involved with the “Catharctic" Circle collective. This group became my artistic family of origin.
I eventually made my way back to college at Wayne State University to work toward a Fine Art degree. As much as I loved Wayne and its’ romantic Cass Corridor history, I felt at odds with its focus on traditional formalism. Without knowing it, I had stumbled upon the “consciousness raising” of the early feminists, and was drawn to the Rutgers University graduate program where the faculty was atypically dominated by women. There, I was immersed in art through a female lens and studied with a host of trailblazing woman artists. During this time I had my first experience of art as social practice. As “Artist in Residence” with the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy, I collaborated in work on murals with inner city students in New Brunswick. Back in Detroit I did similar service work through the Art at the Bedside program at Children’s Hospital in Detroit.
Post grad school, I fell under the direct tutelage of the Grand Dame of Detroit Gallerists, Susanne Hilberry. As her gallery assistant for many years I met legendary artists and learned the ins and outs of the business of art. More importantly, Susanne instilled in me the the notion that the true magic of art is found in the visible presence of process and gesture. She abhorred over work and over finishing. This idea has become a standard to which I aspire.
In retrospect, I realize that from my Mother onward, I was lucky to be granted agency to define my own path. I too am a poet and storyteller, but my vehicle is predominantly image. In addition to being a maker, I am a teacher of many years. I have taught in a lot of places, and experienced students from all walks of life. I consider myself a midwife of art - offering students guidance and support in giving birth to their own visions.
I was transplanted at an early age to Detroit when my father took a job at the tank plant. Although they came here by choice, my uprooted parents never quite acclimated to Michigan. I have always felt like an outsider in spite of a loyal cadre of friends and associates. and have remained emotionally in a place “between” homes.
I always loved making things and spent countless hours at the kitchen table coloring, but during high school got distracted by the theatre. I planned to take it up in college but a serious illness prevented it. That same illness led me into research on mind - body interaction. I began to explore chance art making processes as a way to access the subconscious. During my recuperation I met artistic kindred spirits, and became involved with the “Catharctic" Circle collective. This group became my artistic family of origin.
I eventually made my way back to college at Wayne State University to work toward a Fine Art degree. As much as I loved Wayne and its’ romantic Cass Corridor history, I felt at odds with its focus on traditional formalism. Without knowing it, I had stumbled upon the “consciousness raising” of the early feminists, and was drawn to the Rutgers University graduate program where the faculty was atypically dominated by women. There, I was immersed in art through a female lens and studied with a host of trailblazing woman artists. During this time I had my first experience of art as social practice. As “Artist in Residence” with the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy, I collaborated in work on murals with inner city students in New Brunswick. Back in Detroit I did similar service work through the Art at the Bedside program at Children’s Hospital in Detroit.
Post grad school, I fell under the direct tutelage of the Grand Dame of Detroit Gallerists, Susanne Hilberry. As her gallery assistant for many years I met legendary artists and learned the ins and outs of the business of art. More importantly, Susanne instilled in me the the notion that the true magic of art is found in the visible presence of process and gesture. She abhorred over work and over finishing. This idea has become a standard to which I aspire.
In retrospect, I realize that from my Mother onward, I was lucky to be granted agency to define my own path. I too am a poet and storyteller, but my vehicle is predominantly image. In addition to being a maker, I am a teacher of many years. I have taught in a lot of places, and experienced students from all walks of life. I consider myself a midwife of art - offering students guidance and support in giving birth to their own visions.