Artist Statement
After stepping away from classroom teaching and moving to Massachusetts, I felt the desire -- the pull -- to explore different art genres. Welding and stained-glass classes proved exciting, but it was when I took a paper weaving class that something clicked. The process included painting 5-inch-wide strips of watercolor paper, slicing them through a pasta cutter and then weaving the strips together, creating vessel-like shapes.
A move to Taos, New Mexico -- which lasted sixteen years -- lent itself to expanding my paper weaving techniques. The process began by layering acrylic paint and textures onto two sheets of watercolor paper. Then, I cut each sheet into long wavy strips. Once each sheet was deconstructed, the reconstruction began. Like a loom, one set of strips was the weft and the other was the warp. Intertwining them formed a completely new piece. Working and showing art at Las Comadres Women’s Cooperative in Taos allowed me to grow with these pieces I call Woven Tales.
A new door opened for creative opportunity with a move to Durango in May 2020. Living in a much smaller space and opting to work without paints led me to pen-and-ink work. Abstract has always been my wheelhouse, so exploring shapes and patterns set me up for endless possibilities that I call Patterns Within. My inspiration came when I discovered Zentangle®, a process of repeating patterns with pen and ink. This technique became the backdrop on which I have been working for the last three years.
There is joy and fulfillment in getting lost in one’s work, and it is no different for me. Both mediums that have captured my heart over the years - each feeling like a "way of seeing."