My Artist Statement is: “At a time when the news is filled with negative emotions, troubled relationships, hardship, and war, my work focuses exclusively on lightness and good news. I hope people will smile to see my intimate and personal body of work that portrays loving and positive family events, and theatrical and musical performances with special personal significance. I value openness, generosity, and respect of others and these ideals may be found embodied in my sculptures.”
Most of my career as an artist has been spent working as an illustrator in the field of education with book publishers and editorial illustrations for magazines and newspapers. I’m now printing my illustrations onto porcelain, and exploring dimension with my interest in music and stage design, and making bas-relief tiles and celebratory sculptures portraying important life and historic events.
I discovered my interest in ceramics in undergraduate school at Bennington College, and as a graduate student majoring in ceramics at the University of Montana. While in grad school I worked part-time for the Anthropology and Wildlife departments doing illustration for student thesis papers. This opened up an interesting and practical possibility of working in the education field with my talent for drawing.
I moved to Boston and started working for the New England Aquarium. I became their staff illustrator for exhibits, drawing hundreds of fish and marine wildlife. I also illustrated some non-fiction children’s books. Eventually, I came to specialize in food illustration starting with the New York Times Sunday food pages and then for cookbooks with New York publishers (Knopf, Random House, Harper and Row, Warner Books) and worked for Jim Henson Associates on a Muppets craft book.
About 14 years ago, I left the publishing world to go back to working in ceramics, encouraged by the supportive atmosphere at the Harvard University Ceramics Program. I was chosen as one of the resident artists at the Harvard studio. I work in porcelain and stoneware, specializing in bas-relief tiles and hand-built sculpture, and cast my detailed work to make duplicate limited additions. I have made a point of studying with my favorite artists, when possible, in recent years, to learn an assortment of techniques that have advanced my work.
From 2005 – 2012 I managed and taught at the Babson College Ceramics Studio, a creative outlet for students from Babson, Olin and Wellesley Colleges. In 2012, I was honored to receive a Mellon Presidential Grant to make murals with students from Babson and Wellesley colleges emphasizing their significant sustainability efforts on their college campuses.
I’ve been honored to be invited to three residencies. First, in 2006, at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, then at Guldagergaard, the International Ceramics Research Center in Skaelskor, Denmark in the summer of 2011. This past September and October 2012, I was chosen for a second residency at Guldagergaard, to develop my interest in printing my silk-screened images onto porcelain.
My ceramics are included in four of the Lark Book publications: 500 Pitchers; 500 Tiles; 500 Animals in Clay; and 500 Prints on Clay just published this year. I have also been in several group shows throughout the USA and in Denmark, and won some awards.
In 2012, I was involved in a dynamic project for the Cambridge Health Alliance at Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to create “life affirming imagery” in a series of ceramic murals to bring some cheer to cancer patients.
I live in Needham, Massachusetts with my husband David, and we have two grown children recently married. David is a full time psychiatrist at the Brockton VA Hospital where he teaches the next generation of psychiatrists and cares for veterans. He is part of a new program using telemedicine to reach more veterans at VA hospitals around the country who need psychopharmacology consultations for PTSD and other disorders. He is very committed and happy to serve this very needy and deserving patient population that has served our country. I am very proud of him.
In my free time, I sing with the Masterworks Chorale; The Newton Swing Band; and at my congregation Temple Beth Elohim, in Wellesley, MA.
During my recent residency in Denmark, I was able to sing with a local chorale of Danes in the town of Skaelskor. I loved the experience of learning their Danish music, while we also sang Beetles music. Singing with these local folks and their friendships greatly enriched my experience in Denmark, and I enjoyed befriending the international artists who lived and worked with me during my two months there.
I have experienced firsthand how music and art really bring people of all cultures together. And, I find your Embassy Art Program to be a wonderful opportunity to help make peace in the world.
