I am a self-taught artist who has dedicated my life work to developing a personal voice and a skilled craft. With sources ranging from the ancient frescoes and mosaics of Etruria, Rome and Byzantium to Indian and Persian miniatures, from vernacular, hand-painted signage to folk art, my paintings capture timeless moments through a contemporary lens. For the past fourteen years I have focused on creating portraits of a broad range of individuals, painted in oil or gouache on paper and board. Consciously rooting my works in the rich tradition of genre painting, I place figures - often women - in domestic settings. My figures are reticent and static, endowing my scenes with a mysterious and solemn aura. Though my work is clearly inspired by traditional art forms, I maintain its relevance through the quiet presentation of issues of gender and race, informed by personal history.

I use color and pattern in my paintings to evoke emotion, to tell stories of daily life and to draw the viewer into an intimate world. In many of my works, I incorporate collaged decorative elements, sourced from old catalogs, field guides and vintage books. By meticulously cutting and pasting significant motifs and images, I develop intricate designs, rendering my surfaces more distinctive and my works as a whole more visually complex.

I am the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including a Pollock-Krasner Grant (2009) , an Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant (2007) , a Sharpe Foundation Studio Grant (2011) , two Fellowships in Drawing/Works on Paper (2005, 1995) and five Artist-in-Residence Grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts (1997- 1993). I was an Artist-in-Residence at Altos de Chavon, an affiliation of Parsons School of Design in La Romana, Dominican Republic (1992). I have exhibited at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the American Academy in Rome and many other national and international venues. My work has been reviewed in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Boston Globe, “Art in America” online, “Hyperallergic”, “ArtsObserver.com” and
“ARTSlant”, Editor’s Choice. In addition to exhibiting and lecturing on my work,
I have taught at a myriad of institutions, including PS1 Museum, the Queens Museum, the American Museum of Folk Art, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, Colorado and the Art Students League. My work is represented in private and public collections in North America and Europe.