Bio
As soon as I was old enough to venture out on my own, maybe twelve, I’d take the family dog and walk for hours in the open space preserve near our Oakland family home. About the same time, I began to make art. Both activities have remained at the center of my life. Walking and art have become integrated. I hike on local trails snapping photos of trees that I use as subjects for my prints.
After earning my MFA from UC Berkeley in 1982, I moved to Santa Cruz where I have lived, walked and made art ever since.
I teach art at West Valley College and Monterey Peninsula College (MPC). MPC has a stellar non-toxic printmaking program. Intrigued, I took a few classes from the faculty there (Robynn Smith, Evelyn Klein and Denese Sanders) and so, about ten years ago, began a practice in printmaking that I continue as a member of this wonderful group of artists, The Printmakers At The Tannery (PATT).
Statement
My work follows a path I have been on for a while now– hiking in local preserves, stopping to snap photos of trees I use as references for paintings and prints. In spring our landscape is vividly green, in summer, bone dry. In fall we anticipate fire with our “go bags” packed. I paint and print trees in the colors of these seasons.
During summer 2020, while I worked in hot oranges, yellows, and reds, dry lightning sparked the CZU fire. Throughout 2021, I concentrated on muted tones matching my sense of longing for an environment severely impacted by Climate Change. This year, focused on printmaking, I am varying color by inking linocuts in the hues of spring, drought and fire. I hang the tissue thin prints to dry from a line above my head. They billow and wave like Tibetan prayer flags inspiring the title “Pray for Rain”.
