My personal art style is about as mixed-media as it gets, and includes photography, printmaking, painting, ceramics, mosaic, beading, textile art, and a ten year career decorating custom cakes.

It fascinates me that in every culture, it is often the most marginalized people who create with joy and color and loud, unabashed expression. I find such inspiration in their jubilant voices, in the freedom and whimsy of their work, in the ways they help brighten the dark corners and tough times of our world. 

Having taught art to hundreds of students a week with very little budget in a variety of settings-from elementary school to homeless shelters- I began to see patterns emerge. The more humble the supplies, the more expressive the art. It was as if taking the seriousness and rigid expectation away took the pressure off and gave complete freedom to create. Like my students themselves and so many other folk artists who paved the way using any material available to them, my artwork is a compilation of the bits of color and material that have crossed my path. 

The finished pieces feel more like they come through me, as opposed to being designed by me. I generally begin with a vague notion (either that, or from one of the years of nagging sketches I dismissively jotted down in stacks of sketchbooks while I was too busy teaching and momming) and when the work is done, more often than not, I am thoroughly surprised by what the serendipity of my subconscious or the universe (or both) has manifested.

My current/continuing obsession is the way that various cultures celebrate life, even in death, and the relationships that continue from both sides of the thin veil that exists between these worlds. More than anything, I feel compelled to contribute to the conversation about these esoteric experiences, and to share my work with whoever is inclined to see.