About me...
Formative
I have been making and loving art for as long as I can remember. I attribute my talent to my mother—who was once a floral designer and has a great eye.
From grocery store coloring contests to school competitions to making things for my own walls, I've always been driven to create.
I grew up in New York State in a small town near the banks of Lake Ontario. After studying art history and studio art at SUNY Fredonia, a liberal arts college in New York, I moved to Washington, D.C. to take a job with The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works (AIC). I was introduced to the world of art conservation and preservation during my time with AIC which deepened my passion for how art is created and maintained for generations to come.
Paris
After working a few years in DC, I was offered the opportunity to teach SAT prep part-time for The Princeton Review at the American University of Paris. I’d been teaching and tutoring in DC to supplement my income and jumped at the chance to move to Paris for the summer. I spent mornings teaching and the rest of my time living among the Parisians and exploring the city and the surrounding regions of France. From Van Gogh's grave site, Montmartre, Sacré-Cœur, Versailles, Rodin's sculptures, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the École des Beaux-Arts — my time in Paris had a profound impact on my life.
Random-line drawing from my Paris sketchbook.
Today
When I returned to DC, I transitioned careers from art conservation and took a job with a DC-based advanced technology company where I still work today. I am fortunate to create from my home studio in the metro DC area. I balance my time between my full-time work as an organizational transformation and change strategist (I help people and orgs use data to drive and adapt to change) and creating as much art as I can.
Recently, I’ve been inspired to draw random line or stipple dot sketches and leave them as a token for my various AirBnB hosts. I try to create something related to the place where I’m staying. Here are a few of my favorites:
Work style, influences, and medium
I work with acrylic, oil, pen-in-ink, graphite and dabble in photography. My work is inspired by reflections of what's going on in my life, in nature, in politics, in the place I’m living at the time. Things like my chronic kidney illness, to life on Lake Ontario, to loss of loved ones, to time spent on an oyster farm, to my time in Paris. I like being a quiet observer and noticing things (some) people overlook.
One theme you'll see recurring in my work throughout the years is trees, specifically birch (or aspen) trees. I love them.
Creators who inspire me: Benjamin Hightower, Helen Frakenthaler, Marc Chagall, Chuck Close, Matt Sesow, Judy Chicago, Frida Khalo, Mark Cameron Boyd, Leah Frankel, Amy Tavern, Greg Gillis, Laurie Anderson, Nancy Spero, Ash Deskins, Alexander Calder, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei, Georgia O'Keeffe, Eef Barzelay (Clem Snide), Gord Downie, Charlie Mackesy, Frank Lloyd Wright.
“Whoever wants to know something about me – as an artist which alone is significant – they should look attentively at my pictures and there seek to recognize what I am and what I want.”