In my work you’ll see Baba Yagas wearing the cutest shoes,
I explore the simple magic of being a person with a heart and a soul in a fragile mortal body
and all of the fragile and mortal bodies that came before
that through their love brought us here to earth
who we can only know through our imagination how they were and what we may share
The spells we cast with every word we speak
everything we make with our hands.
The seasonal turning of the year.
Where do we go when we die?
What does it look like when we transition from matter to pure energy?
Can we hold the value and grace in every single precious moment so we can have peace when we have to let it all go?
I explore the simple magic of being a person with a heart and a soul in a fragile mortal body
and all of the fragile and mortal bodies that came before
that through their love brought us here to earth
who we can only know through our imagination how they were and what we may share
The spells we cast with every word we speak
everything we make with our hands.
The seasonal turning of the year.
Where do we go when we die?
What does it look like when we transition from matter to pure energy?
Can we hold the value and grace in every single precious moment so we can have peace when we have to let it all go?
In my work you’ll see Baba Yagas wearing the cutest shoes,
inanimate objects speaking from their hearts,
houses as animate essential portals,
the mundane and the magical co-existing.
I am an artist living and working on the Kitsap Peninsula outside of Seattle, Washington, just a few miles from where I grew up.
I studied Art Education & Fine Art at Western Washington University with a studio concentration in fiber arts.
After leaving college, I taught fine art at the middle school level, high school level and then moved into arts education administration at the college level.
My studio practice was inactive for a decade while I was adulting, as happens to the best of us.
My funny and dear husband Andy was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. I returned to the studio while taking care of him during his treatments.
While we prepared for the unexpected reality of his imminent passing at the age of 44, I received my death doula certification so I could properly care for him in a non-medical capacity to fulfill his wishes for a home death.
After his passing, I went on bereavement leave from work and began creating art again full time.
I am an artist living and working on the Kitsap Peninsula outside of Seattle, Washington, just a few miles from where I grew up.
I studied Art Education & Fine Art at Western Washington University with a studio concentration in fiber arts.
After leaving college, I taught fine art at the middle school level, high school level and then moved into arts education administration at the college level.
My studio practice was inactive for a decade while I was adulting, as happens to the best of us.
My funny and dear husband Andy was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. I returned to the studio while taking care of him during his treatments.
While we prepared for the unexpected reality of his imminent passing at the age of 44, I received my death doula certification so I could properly care for him in a non-medical capacity to fulfill his wishes for a home death.
After his passing, I went on bereavement leave from work and began creating art again full time.
I have benefited so much from reconnecting with my studio practice. Ultimately, I am interested in how art operates as a tool for healing through connecting creativity to hand movement, freedom of authentic personal expression and creating spaces for conversation, companionship, and solidarity.
My work is deeply informed by my lived experience as a caregiver, death doula, and widow. As is a part of this experience, my world view and spiritual views have shifted significantly.
I am currently creating mixed media collages with encaustic wax that incorporate paper and textiles. My thematic focus has always had an element of personal narrative. I was making drawings about my breakups in my 20’s.
Art has always been my solace. Now specifically that narrative revolves around grief, loss and our essential energetic connection to each other, the earth, the cosmos beyond and the ideas of disembodiment, embodiment, and the liminal state between.
This includes how we age as women and giving that era of life some major love and attention.
I am interested in a creative exploration and reclamation of myth and lore surrounding female archetypes as sources of strength and models in navigating changes in life.
I am also drawn to exploring the animism in discarded objects as a metaphor for honoring the abandoned, as a comment on class and status, and as an exercise in giving something a second life.
My work tends to be candid, expressive, and instinctive.
This includes how we age as women and giving that era of life some major love and attention.
I am interested in a creative exploration and reclamation of myth and lore surrounding female archetypes as sources of strength and models in navigating changes in life.
I am also drawn to exploring the animism in discarded objects as a metaphor for honoring the abandoned, as a comment on class and status, and as an exercise in giving something a second life.
My work tends to be candid, expressive, and instinctive.
Handling life well is a creative act and as soon as we pick up that brush, it’s a magic wand, and you’re an artist!
Ha, ha! I tricked you into being an artist! Tag, you’re it! Got ya!!!!!
Really, I think the act of making makes you an artist. It’s a practice, not an all-encompassing identity. We all have multiple interests and many of us are multi-potentialites.
I hope you’ll join me in my home studio or a workshop to explore and learn together.
Handling life well is a creative act and as soon as we pick up that brush, it’s a magic wand, and you’re an artist!
Ha, ha! I tricked you into being an artist! Tag, you’re it! Got ya!!!!!
Really, I think the act of making makes you an artist. It’s a practice, not an all-encompassing identity. We all have multiple interests and many of us are multi-potentialites.
I hope you’ll join me in my home studio or a workshop to explore and learn together.
Explore my latest Original art pieces, Prints, or Gifts for every budget.
Explore my latest Original art pieces, Prints, or Gifts for every budget.
