My work is about exploring the places between and apart from
ordinary reality. Many of my paintings are about giving birth, whether that
process is about literally giving birth or the act of creation in all of its
forms. I’m fascinated by stories of life after death. I believe in rebirth, and
a life between lives. I believe we each have the opportunity to give birth to
ourselves over and over again, as we go through the changes of life.
I am interested in ritual and the nexus between ritual and
art. I create ritual for rites of passage, for me these are about birth, death,
and rebirth. Acts of transformation, from one state to another, are of immense
importance to me. Sacred spaces, too, are important – liminal places where one
may experience transformation from one state, or one place, to another.
I am an educator. I see teaching as a calling, a vocation, a
means for helping others go from one place to another. Through education, we
transform ourselves; my students teach me as much as I teach them, perhaps they
teach me more. Studying and teaching the history of art – both western and
African art – reminds me of my own place in the cosmos, and of how context and
perception shape our experiences of art.
I paint with watercolor because I love its flowing, watery,
almost intuitive nature. One can control watercolor, yet it retains its own
unpredictable nature. Like life, it has a tendency to turn out in a way I don't
always plan. I enjoy this about it, however, and enjoy working with the
challenge of finding that middle ground between the idiosyncrasies of the
paint, and my own abilities.
My influences include Agnes Pelton, Frida Kahlo, Georgia
O’Keefe, Judy Chicago, Leonor Fini and Marybeth Edelstein. I also love the
Romantics, particularly the Pre-Raphaelites. I’m interested in studying how the
current Technological Revolution is much like the Industrial Revolution, and
fascinated by the way in which artists respond to these changes. I often feel
as though I am rebelling against the Technological Age through my work. I am
interested in forms that are more organic, in processes that are done by hand.
We live in perilous times. Each day the news is filled with
horrors that should be unspeakable. I am speechless when faced with these
terrors being experienced by people all over the world, and by the frightening
prospect of what the future may hold. Art is a bridge which allows us to cross
gaps we might not have anticipated, helps us to contend with whatever the world
may throw our way. Art helps us to speak the unspeakable, to heal the wounds of
individuals and cultures. Art is essential.
I believe in art and in the power of art.
