I earned a fine arts degree as an undergraduate, but was an academic in an unrelated field for many years. As a researcher and mixed-media artist I am informed by many sources. I am a student of folk, outsider, and visionary artists. These artists are a constant source of inspiration and I feel a strong connection to their work. I incorporate symbols, shapes, and subject matter from many cultures. Many of my paintings resemble fabric and I look to cultures with strong textile traditions: African weavers, Gee’s Bend quilters, Huichol visionary yarn painters, and Kuna cut fabric artists. I use a variety of traditional media (watercolor, gouache, acrylic, oil pastels, and colored pencil) as well as nontraditional materials (house paint, markers, white out, fabric, found objects) to create my paintings.
