I have been creating environments, objects, drawings, paintings and presenting them publically for the last 30 years. My large-scale public projects have been both temporary and permanent in nature.
My work has been exhibited and collected across the Pacific Northwest as well as in California, Arizona Wisconsin, New York, Canada and West Africa. You can find a consistent record of commissions and exhibitions on my website. Articles about my work have appeared in publications including Sculpture Magazine, Artweek, and the German Periodical Glaushaus. Marylhurst University published a catalogue in conjunction with a major exhibition of my work. Lewis and Clark College also published a book on my work aligned with a one-person exhibition entitled “Clearing” in 2014. I have received awards from The Pollack Krasner Foundation, The Regional Arts and Culture council, the Ford Family Foundation, The Oregon Arts Commission, and The Clackamas Arts Alliance. A Ford Foundation Golden Spot residency at Camp Caldera, Sisters WA, and A Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking residency award at Sitka, Or.
My Artist in residency Awards include: The Museum of Glass in Tacoma Washington, Franz Meyer Architectural Glass, Munich Germany, Bullseye Glass Factory, Ohio State University, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and THREAD, which is a project of the Joseph and Anni Albers foundation in Senegal West Africa,
I have a BA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in Art and Education, and an MFA from Ohio State University.
In Addition to my art practice I am a founding Board member of the environmental arts Organization ORLO, as well as a founding board Member of Ko-Falen Cultural Center based both in Portland Oregon, and headquartered in Bamako, Mali, West Africa. I also mentor art students and teach Yoga for Living Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to drug and alcohol treatment centers and prisons in Oregon.
There is a social component to my work as well. My latest project (2018) is citywide art collaboration with the population experiencing homelessness, artists and philanthropists in Portland Oregon called Gather:Make:Shelter more information can be found at gathermakeshelter.org
I recently collaborated with psychiatric patients at the Oregon State hospital with workshops involving writing yoga meditation and beading to create work for a new hospital. After practicing yoga for many years I became certified as a teacher in 2010. My interest in teaching is one of bringing yoga to populations that do not necessarily have the resources or ability to practice. In January 2017 I returned from a residency in the remote village of Sinthian in Senegal, West Africa where among other things introduced yoga to the village and left them with the ability to continue a series of daily classes safely. It was here that I also began several projects with the women one of which initiated a new income stream for them and another installation "La Grande Robe" is getting shown in US museums and galleries about the power of women globally.
Given this incredibly challenging time on our planet politically and environmentally I feel the potential of extending our hearts and minds "on the ground" and making connections are but one way in which we can attempt to contribute healing acts and interventions. I see this work as a conduit through which we bring our bodies and energies together and in the spirit of levity, joy and wonder guiding our lives and working toward healing collectively.
The possibility of making work site specific for Embassies is clearly aligned with the goals and spirit of my work and I would love to contribute something hopeful and magical to such settings.
