Artist Statement
While studying art and photography at the University of Arizona, I took a weaving class-little realizing that it would change my artistic life. My first weaving teacher at the University of Arizona was a former photographer who gave up her photography career to become a weaver. At the time, I couldn't understand her reason for taking up weaving, but after I began seriously studying weaving in Seattle in 1990, and particularly after buying my first loom, I realized that the approaches to weaving and photography are very similar-both are technical disciplines that require meticulous planning and execution to achieve a satisfying result.
I took up quilting and fiber art in 2008 after meeting and studying with Betty Hahn, a local fiber artist, who has helped me see fiber art in a new way.
At the University of Arizona, I was intrigued by the 19th Century photographic process of gum arabic printing, which involves separating the various levels of light and shadow in a photographic negative and then reassembling the photograph using color to clarify and enhance the images. I have always been interested in the clarity and truth of the photograph as art, and I want my art work--photographs, weaving and fiber art ---to be straightforward integrations of their component parts. It is the analysis and assembly of these elements as well as the interplay of shape, color and texture that fascinate and inspire me.
A sense of humor and a slightly off-center way of seeing the world are important aspects of my personality and my art. I believe one should have fun in life and in art. What is life for if not to have fun!