Bio

From Memphis to Oakland.
Two decades pursuing where the paint takes me.

I come from a family of women who practice every kind of handwork from Swedish Embroidery to woodworking. The desire to make came with the air I breathed. 

My first real enchantment was in a small pottery studio in Eads, Tennessee. As I struggled to center a piece of clay, my teacher asked “Do you know why we center clay?” Before I could say, through gritted teeth, “to make a bowl“, she smiled and replied, “We center the clay to center ourselves”. I breathed in. I was in love with spinning clay, with fire in a raku kiln. I felt a fire in the belly that still compels me to make art. 

That fire also demanded a narrative about what I made; a desire for story telling. I had an idea that women’s stories needed to be told and be heard. I was lucky enough to receive a grant which I used to create a performance piece called “Around the Kitchen Table”.  It featured a series of women’s stories brought to life by dancers, actors and musicians. I found a community of women artists in Memphis who actually made it happen. The fire in my belly burns brightest within a community of artists, and such sharing of experience and cross pollination of ideas continues to fuel my work to this day.

When I came to Oakland I was gifted an art education. At CCa I breathed deeply and learned to paint, to make prints, to understand art history, to see and to draw. Amid this wellspring of imagery and critique, I found the conversation; the connection to the viewer. I stretch to make visual art that invites investigation. The investigation is how the work connects. 

I have joyfully spent the last 20 years deepening my art practice, always mindful of why I am making the work and what it says.