About

I found a book of stories I made in second grade. There was nothing in it about wanting to be an artist. I knew by then that it wasn’t really an approved career. I knew you had to be special or extra in some way to be an artist. I knew most artists had a ‘day job.’ I knew an awful lot for a second-grader.

But what 40-odd-year-old me sees is the painstakingly-crayoned field of flowers that makes the front cover of the book of stories.

What I wrote in the story about what I wanted to be when I grew up was, instead, a mom. I wanted to be a mom and have kids, and I planned, very practically, to take good care of my kids.

I did not end up becoming a mother, but I do see that sense of nurture and of caretaking throughout my life. From teambuilding to teaching, to startup companies, taking care of the people around me is always a thread.

Art is not just a thing to sell or a decoration to fill space. Art is a way of taking care, a way of noticing what is precious to me and you, a way of honoring moments and lights, places and feelings. It is a way of being present, which is really the best way I know of to take care of people.

I am a mixed-media artist, working primarily in encaustic, watercolors, and acrylic paints. I play and explore with many other media, including photography, and I usually have a day job or two or three.

Whether I’m teaching workshops, making art, doing research, sketching, bringing envelopes to the post office, it’s that goal of being awake to that moment that drives me.

-photo credit Jumay Designs