My studio is a refuge where I delight in the immediacy and messy, visceral process of making mixed media paintings. Each composition takes shape through a kind of “call and response” process – a dynamic, intimate conversation between the canvas and the materials I work into it: thin and saturated layers of paint; drips and washes; scribbles and scratches; collage fragments from discarded paintings as well as written words and graphic elements taken from journals, sketchbooks and the detritus of daily life.

In my paintings I explore the idea of “sense of place” and all its myriad layers of meaning. What has evolved is a kind of mapping of my life experience that has both geographic and psychological dimensions to it, where internal and external meld. Forms take shape that hold emotional meaning for me — horizons, openings and portals, bridges and border crossings; nests, bowls and vessels. 

My work as a painter has evolved alongside two other central aspects of my life: my work as a documentary filmmaker and my experience as the mother of a child (now a grown woman) with a developmental disability. As a filmmaker, I’ve explored different approaches to visual story telling that have influenced my more abstract work as a painter. As a mom, I’ve been immersed in the world of non-verbal learning and communication, fascinated by the mysterious process of language acquisition and the ways in which language informs intelligence, perception, and meaning. This experience has been a driving force in my development as an abstract painter.