Bio-statement-story
Passion
It’s a word that many people use to explain why they style clothes, choreograph dance, or compose music.
It’s certainly a feeling that drives me to create memorable sculpture, pieces that speak to people. Even more than a feeling, it’s my idée fixe. I feel compelled to tell stories with my work, to stimulate people with my art, to inspire them to reflect on serious subjects.
I’ve felt this way since childhood. So perhaps it was written in the stars for me to be an artist. I simply love creating things—objects, drawings, assemblages, choreography - anything I can wrap my mind around or get my hands on. One of my earliest memories is of my mom lifting me up on a high chair so I could draw while she got my siblings ready to head off to school.
From that point on, I never stopped creating. Through my school years, I was preoccupied with drawing, painting and sculpting. Watching imagery come to life in my hands, to see the visions that previously existed only in my mind appear in front of me - it always seemed to be on the edge of magic. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northern Michigan University, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a concentration in ceramic sculpture. After apprenticing with both master ceramist John Glick and master glass blower Steven Hourigan, I moved to Santa Fe, NM to work for Shidoni bronze casting foundry.
Some time after this move, my creative focus shifted to the performing arts. This turned out to be a critical development in my evolution as an artist. I was forbidden to dance as a child, and in a way, these new experiences completed that past for me. When the busyness of my life didn’t allow for the all-consuming commitment of sculpting in clay, I used dancers as my visual palette, creating my imagery through movement. While concentrating on teaching and developing choreography, I refined my knowledge of bodies, gesture and the human condition. I established and operated my own dance studio as well as founding “Body Flight,” a professional dance company. In 2006, I was selected for New Mexico business weekly’s “40 under 40” award for my contributions in dance and business.
After many years of performing, I began waking up at night with a question troubling my mind: what can you bring to the world that would not exist had you not been here? In my heart, I knew the answer was not in the field of performing arts - I knew I had completed what I needed to learn there. It was time to shift all of my focus and energy back to my sculpture. Having come full circle, I applied all I’d learned about movement, line, anatomy and human nature to my fired clay figurative work.
My current work explores themes centered on personal sociocultural experience. My approach to the figure shows the inner emotional landscape revealed through the external forms of the body. Human beings are incredibly perceptive of the subtlety of gesture and body language - a particular posture, a look, even a slight tilt of the shoulders communicates volumes in an instant. My work begins with this notion of our instinctual response to nonverbal communication - the tensing of muscles disclosing acute internal struggle, the slackening of a torso revealing complete capitulation, a shift in the focus of the eyes disclosing innermost thoughts. Contrasting classically rendered figures with contemporary motifs, themes and surface treatments, I frequently juxtapose body language, posture and attitude with text, layering the strength of gesture with the power words have convey, create and define reality and experience. My sculptures are often large scale as these life-sized works invite the viewer to relate to the experience of the subjects of the pieces, interacting with them at a deeply personal level.
My work is currently represented by EVOKE Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM and has been shown in juried and invitational exhibits across the country. My sculptures have been juried into various national and international publications, including “500 Figures in Clay,” “CAST,” “Spectrum 22” and “Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art,” receiving the Silver Award in the Dimensional Category, and “The ARC International Salon Catalogue,” for which I received an Honorable Mention in the Sculpture category, among others. Reviews and features of my work have been published by sources including “Fine Art Today,” “Art Ltd.” “Airbrush Action,” “Flesk Publications,” and “Muddy Colors,” among others. My work is included in museum permanent collections and private collections of note around the country. I frequently give lectures, demonstrations, offer workshops and participate on panel discussions regarding art, business, ceramics and large-scale sculpture. I currently live and work in Santa Fe, NM with my husband, a painter and sculptor with whom I frequently collaborate on unique projects.
It’s a word that many people use to explain why they style clothes, choreograph dance, or compose music.
It’s certainly a feeling that drives me to create memorable sculpture, pieces that speak to people. Even more than a feeling, it’s my idée fixe. I feel compelled to tell stories with my work, to stimulate people with my art, to inspire them to reflect on serious subjects.
I’ve felt this way since childhood. So perhaps it was written in the stars for me to be an artist. I simply love creating things—objects, drawings, assemblages, choreography - anything I can wrap my mind around or get my hands on. One of my earliest memories is of my mom lifting me up on a high chair so I could draw while she got my siblings ready to head off to school.
From that point on, I never stopped creating. Through my school years, I was preoccupied with drawing, painting and sculpting. Watching imagery come to life in my hands, to see the visions that previously existed only in my mind appear in front of me - it always seemed to be on the edge of magic. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northern Michigan University, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a concentration in ceramic sculpture. After apprenticing with both master ceramist John Glick and master glass blower Steven Hourigan, I moved to Santa Fe, NM to work for Shidoni bronze casting foundry.
Some time after this move, my creative focus shifted to the performing arts. This turned out to be a critical development in my evolution as an artist. I was forbidden to dance as a child, and in a way, these new experiences completed that past for me. When the busyness of my life didn’t allow for the all-consuming commitment of sculpting in clay, I used dancers as my visual palette, creating my imagery through movement. While concentrating on teaching and developing choreography, I refined my knowledge of bodies, gesture and the human condition. I established and operated my own dance studio as well as founding “Body Flight,” a professional dance company. In 2006, I was selected for New Mexico business weekly’s “40 under 40” award for my contributions in dance and business.
After many years of performing, I began waking up at night with a question troubling my mind: what can you bring to the world that would not exist had you not been here? In my heart, I knew the answer was not in the field of performing arts - I knew I had completed what I needed to learn there. It was time to shift all of my focus and energy back to my sculpture. Having come full circle, I applied all I’d learned about movement, line, anatomy and human nature to my fired clay figurative work.
My current work explores themes centered on personal sociocultural experience. My approach to the figure shows the inner emotional landscape revealed through the external forms of the body. Human beings are incredibly perceptive of the subtlety of gesture and body language - a particular posture, a look, even a slight tilt of the shoulders communicates volumes in an instant. My work begins with this notion of our instinctual response to nonverbal communication - the tensing of muscles disclosing acute internal struggle, the slackening of a torso revealing complete capitulation, a shift in the focus of the eyes disclosing innermost thoughts. Contrasting classically rendered figures with contemporary motifs, themes and surface treatments, I frequently juxtapose body language, posture and attitude with text, layering the strength of gesture with the power words have convey, create and define reality and experience. My sculptures are often large scale as these life-sized works invite the viewer to relate to the experience of the subjects of the pieces, interacting with them at a deeply personal level.
My work is currently represented by EVOKE Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM and has been shown in juried and invitational exhibits across the country. My sculptures have been juried into various national and international publications, including “500 Figures in Clay,” “CAST,” “Spectrum 22” and “Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art,” receiving the Silver Award in the Dimensional Category, and “The ARC International Salon Catalogue,” for which I received an Honorable Mention in the Sculpture category, among others. Reviews and features of my work have been published by sources including “Fine Art Today,” “Art Ltd.” “Airbrush Action,” “Flesk Publications,” and “Muddy Colors,” among others. My work is included in museum permanent collections and private collections of note around the country. I frequently give lectures, demonstrations, offer workshops and participate on panel discussions regarding art, business, ceramics and large-scale sculpture. I currently live and work in Santa Fe, NM with my husband, a painter and sculptor with whom I frequently collaborate on unique projects.