I have always had creative outlets, making things with paint and textiles and paper, etc. Halloween costumes have been a favorite. But I have been fascinated with science since childhood, and that has been my area of focus in education and work experience. Following a successful career as a public health and food scientist, I made a career pivot to focus on my lifelong art practice professionally. As a health scientist, I recognize the necessity of creative endeavors for optimal well-being, and decided to practice what I preached about leading a more balanced-brain approach between logic and analysis with intuition and creativity. My artistic persona comes from disassociating from the analytical mind and suppressing ego, to allow emotion to manifest subconscious imagery. Basically, I try to stop thinking and just be in the present moment. I paint what I feel, not what I see.

I am inspired by the potential of an object, especially one whose beauty and purpose are considered past its expiration date so I am often drawn to repurposing cast-off items into something extraordinary. With my art, I question societal tendencies to discard the old as irrelevant and useless.

Over the years, I’ve collected ‘stuff’ with the intent that ‘One of these days, I’ll use it for something’. Fortunately, I’ve had the storage space to do that. I may have been prescient, since that stockpile served me well during quarantine lockdown :-).

I have had a fondness for fabric ever since I started sewing at the age of seven. I’ve made many wonderful things, but this quilt is my favorite. FISH FOUND TREASURE is a quilted fabric with embroidered fish, who found the jewels from a spilled treasure chest and made them their own.

FISH FOUND TREASURE

44 by 46 inches