Through painting and drawing, I interpret the contexts, beliefs, and behaviors of living beings, sentient and otherwise. I wonder about our collective existence and the intersections it contains. To convey my questioning, I abstract and combine literal and figurative imagery. When painting, I primarily use pigment in soy on fiber, prioritizing those I can grow and locally forage. My paintings are generally 2’ to 4’ squared on raw linen or muslin. I often stitch over the painted image. My chalk drawings are pastels on pavement. Most are the size of a section of sidewalk, but up to 10’ when done in the street. I value texture and exploit the innate grit of the pavement and fiber, and the tension from the stitching. They are underlying qualities of my subject matter. I typically use a limited palette within each piece to underscore the contrast of what I am representing. I use form and line to anchor the pieces and give weight to the ideas they hold. I show my work in New England at museums, galleries, and street painting festivals. 

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Growing up in Massachusetts near Providence, RI, I acquired skills from my family that included woodworking, sewing, and crafting stained glass. I love learning. I have yet to outgrow my art kid desire to experiment with new media and alternative applications. I initially idolized the Surrealist movement and then pivoted to the Guerilla Girls, whose themes resonated with my lived experience. At the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, I studied under Nelson Stevens. His teaching, murals, and activism showed me how the artist’s lens can shift perspectives. He encouraged me to express what I saw through my lens and to visit the lenses of as many other artists as possible. Beyond my courses, I practiced metalsmithing in the Craft Center and graphic design for the newspaper. I also worked as a slide librarian in the art history department. There, I regularly circulated the masters from drawer to tray and back as I prepared decks for professors’ lectures. When time permitted, I sought out the less frequented drawers and explored obscure collections to inform my own practice. I spent my late college and early adulthood years living in Provence and Paris, France, working in film and photography, and eventually falling in love with teaching. I continued those, resumed previous graphic design and pottery assistant gigs, and began my journey into street painting upon my return to Massachusetts, this time in Metro Boston. For several years, I painted in acrylics and crafted jewelry with recycled silver. I sold my work in museum gift shops and at fairs. My commitment to Earthworks’ No Dirty Gold campaign disrupted my practice. I rejected gold to avoid polluting the earth and harming communities, but it led me to see a double standard. I challenged the validity of my supplier’s certification of recycled and ethically mined silver. I questioned everything. I stopped working in metal, and subsequently in petroleum-based acrylics. I now will only use these on the rare occasion where I acquire them secondhand to divert them from the waste stream.

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Currently, I continue to engage in street painting festivals. They are a fleeting community of collective creativity, where the participants leave no physical trace as their art is surrendered to the earth by weather and time. I capitalize on these public forums to prompt observers’ reflection and connection through the images I lay down on the asphalt. I enjoy engaging with the audience while creating. I consistently get direct feedback from the public that my images challenge them to reconsider their assumptions and appreciate overlooked beauty in the world. To commit to a sustainable studio practice, I became a LEED Green Associate and experimented with my own homegrown dyes and fibers. I explored various techniques of Nick Neddo, and eventually learned how to work with pigment in soy with stitch from Claire Benn. I feel aligned in my life through art making, gardening, and my teaching of both.

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Art reflects and drives culture. Poor practices and attitudes can be untaught, in art and in life. Through visually exposing the systems, structures, and ethics of human activity and nature's response or ambivalence, I hope to trigger self reflection and validate the positive forces of nature within us. I enjoyed making jewelry. I saw others do it before me. I assumed it was an acceptable practice. Encountering truth facilitated me to change my actions. As a result, I gave up something I loved doing because the act of love in not doing it was more impactful. Humans are complex. We waver from victim to aggressor depending on context. Art can move us to transformation and to be better versions of ourselves. Through my paintings and drawings, I aim to do no harm, question the harm I perceive being done, and amplify the innate beauty and good I see in the world.