Bio

My journey as an artist is all about landscape. Each time I move to a new place, the medium and goals changes.

Beginning: Wayland and Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Islands, waves, beaches, seaweed, rock, seagulls, boat shells, jingle shells, horseshoe crabs.  My sister Salley and I loved to create intricate clothes for our troll dolls. She has worked this into a career as a children’s book illustrator (www.weefolkstudio.com).

Kirkland College, Clinton, NY: upstate New York, snowy, hilly farmland, apple orchards far away from the ocean. I majored in painting and produced a series of abstract landscapes, inspired by John Marin who painted energetic scenes from Maine.

Los Angeles: fast, warm, sunny, entertainment capitol. Inspired by Judy Chicago’s memoir, Through the Flower, I bought my first car and drove to Los Angeles the summer of 1976. I joined the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman’s Building and learned about the power of personal and content based art, specifically performance art. My solo pieces focused on various personas, ballerina, tap dancer, trapeze artist, nightclub singer. I was also a member of the collaborative performance group The Waitresses and began to write and produce small editions of artists books using letterpress and offset printing.

Portland, Oregon: cold, rainy, literary, large house in Multnomah Village, husband, son, series of housemates. As the mother of a toddler and aware of the conflict between making art and mothers I decided to research this issue through a book of interviews. Strong Hearts, Inspired Minds: 21 interviews with artists who are mothers was published in 1996. It includes photographs of each artist with their children by Christine Eagon. Earned an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.

Columbia Ecovillage, Portland, Oregon: same climate and husband, new condo in NE Portland, with a community of 60 people. After my mother’s death I chose several of her paintings and pastels and hung them in our condo. Living with them reminded me of how much I loved discovering images on the page. In 2009, just a couple months after moving into the community, I decided to reclaim my visual art identity.