I am inspired by ideas, emotions, and stories. There are notes and scraps of paper pasted all over my studio, paintings in the simmering stage, before any brush stroke has appeared. Once the painting is created, those thoughts and moods become a time stamp, forever trapped, marking the moment for eternity.
My great-grandmother's wooden palette and a few of her paintings hang in my studio. I never knew her, yet I am able to connect with her through the art she left in this world. I love the idea of creating something that transcends time. It's a cool possibility to have a dialog with somebody in the future, beyond my time on earth.
As a military brat, I grew up all over the world; people and places changed every few years. I was born on the island of Honshu in Japan and spoke mixed Japanese-English as a child. Though home was not connected to a place, my childhood was magical. Each new location came alive with through hands-on experience in the local culture and history. Adult life has continued at the same pace, I’ve had a driver’s license in 12 different states. Ultimately life is about the people I meet; their stories, cuisine, music and art. Painting and sketching have always been my way to capture the essence of life’s experiences.
My Mom was an oil painter, showing work at galleries in New Mexico and Colorado. I remember loving the smell of linseed oil and listening to artists critique the work as it was dropped off at galleries. I was allowed to paint with oils when I was 10 and sold my first painting in a public show when I was 12. My dad was an engineer, he taught me how to calculate square footage for stage backdrops so I could order paint, and how to use power tools so I could stretch huge canvases.
Southern musical influences became important to me as a teenager when I marched in a traveling drum & bugle corps. After high school, I gravitated toward theatre design and landed a job painting large-scale backdrops in Albuquerque. I graduated from University of Kansas with degrees in Art Education and Studio Art (Textile Design & Painting). Music and theater friends have always been my biggest influences. Thus, the musical subject matter and the bold, large scale.
Over the years, I have worked as a technical illustrator, a graphic designer and a Montessori teacher, plus raised 3 wonderful children. I have been an art therapist, and a workshop facilitator at art museums, medical facilities, and schools nationwide. While in Austin, I was Curator at Downtowner Gallery in Round Rock, and a Docent at the Blanton Museum of Art. Currently, I am a docent at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha and teach workshops in several locations. Teaching helps me see the world through other peoples' eyes.
For the last13 years, we moved around to follow our people - Tampa, Seattle, then Austin. Moving frequently, I have become a minimalist in my studio practices, really honing down what is absolutely necessary to create - a warehouse, a balcony, and a boat. Sometimes I use oil paint and a french easel, sometimes watercolor in a tiny Altoids tin. In 2024 we headed back home to Omaha.
I paint at The Hot Shops and at my home studio depending on scale and how much focus I need. With dedicated space to spread out, it's back to 4 inch brushes and large canvases.
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Photo from 1975, we had just moved from California to the midwest where people didn't connect with the ocean in the same way. Soon I started painting music. |
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