I am a late bloomer to the world of visual art. In fact, I don’t think that I was given a coloring book as a child. My perception of myself in adult life was that I couldn’t draw a decent crooked line. My medium and artistic expression, while I was acting the role of corporate executive manifested by my choice of color, texture, line and form when I got dressed each morning. That should have been my first clue that the right side of my brain was oozing for some focused attention. My embellishments were outlandish and overdone. For me, less was not more. I wasn’t properly attired unless I bedazzled with glitz and glam. In the fashion world, it would have been known as high couture, but in my world, I stuck out like a sore thumb with stodgy corporate good ole boys!
If the soul is not attended to, the body begins to signal distress. In my case, my nervous system went awry, and I was plucked from the world that I had known to the world of the disabled. What a tragic twist of fate said my rational mind. However, on a spiritual note, illness became my blessing. It propelled me to places that I would have never dared to venture, that being the world of art making and writing. After being bed bound and wheel chair bound for an elongated period of time, I began a healing journey which took me back to the classrooms with creative types to study fine art. I was mesmerized by the lack of structure, the avante garde milieu and smell of oil paints, the heat and flame from the welding torch and the nude models as they posed for drawing and sketching classes. It was an awesome new world of discovery right into the recesses of my soul which had never been given the opportunity to express. I am not interested in realism in any shape or form. My hearts’ desire is to create in abstraction on a large scale, revealing the unsettled and unprocessed angst that has accompanied my journey since early childhood. I want to push the envelope of palette choice and dimension, utilizing found objects which were invisible but hidden under the acrylics. Metal and the use of metallic paint is deeply embedded in every aspect of my art making. Even when working on a floor loom, I use materials that juxtaposed, create unusual tension such as traditional linen thread dressed with copper braided wire. I find the headless human form to be an object of my desire, thus squelching the mindless chatter and irrelevant ego interplay. My choice of materials is often vintage mannequin torsos.
My mediums include wire that is manipulated and sculpted using a plaiting and twining technique, knitting or crochet, brushed aluminum metal sculptures, encaustic, pen and ink, pastel, weaving with nontraditional materials, and acrylics on canvas. Many of my paintings include shape investigations and often include circles or spirals, as my soul longs to return to the place of authenticity and wholeness. My work embodies my high level of sensitivity coupled with the subtle energies that permeate our very essence. I do not engage in preparatory drawings or planning, have never experienced a creative block and allow my soul to dictate the movement of stroke and palette choice. Many of my dot paintings are my way of trying to organize a world that feels very chaotic to my sensibilities. I am inspired by nature and by the behavior and emotions of those around me. I pick up all of the subtle nuances in life that many others may not even discern, thus they show up in my work as inexplicable images and shapes. I do not censor anything that flows forth, for all that is evoked is relevant to my personal journey of healing and my need to return to my center.
