Born in Providence, Rhode Island, I attended Brown University, received a BFA from Otis Art Institute 1974, an MA in psychology 1992 and maintain a California Marriage Family Therapist license, though on hiatus from that profession. I used art-making AS therapy with patients diagnosed with serious mental illness; creating art enhanced their self-esteem in those who very much need that support and respect. I published 2 recovery books via a HUD grant for earthquake survivors, “Homeward Bound”, won a large grant to design and administer Project COPE, a unique program for disaster preparedness training.
I was able to return to art full time in 2001. In 2003 I received the international Silver Prize for Art and Science of Color in Kyoto for my Orchid Requiem series, by a jury of prominent figures in science and art, including Nobel laureates. In 2013 I had a solo show of the Orchid Requiem series within the Bloom show at MOAH (Lancaster Museum of Art and History) My work has been shown in museums, galleries and educational institutions. While engaging in other mediums – drawing, painting, writing poetry and parodies – photography offered qualities that still intrigue me. It can suggest a story and/or provide a painting through the lens. As images are of something that was there, there is a presumption of reality, albeit edited or altered. I am attracted to the illusory, surprising or stark, as well as a mood of quiet or calm.
Following Orchid Requiem I developed a group called Naked Lunch, derived from the contents and denizens of cobwebs, their portraits and tales told, digitally altered. Current ongoing series drawn from Nature: The TREES; The TIDES; ISLANDS. The elements of Time and its passing, life and its losses, are ever present.
I recently self-published a book on Condor Dolly, ambassadress for the California Condor preservation efforts. Am an active participant in Micol Hebron's Gallery Tally project, shown at LACE in Los Angeles in the spring, with 9 posters to date. Two of my photographs are in the Berlin Foto Biennale.
A new series of diptychs drawn primarily from Street Photography and Drive-by images align disparate elements that invite inquiry. I am never without a camera in hand, always looking, seeking that cluster of elements and compositions that catch my eye. My goal has been to produce images that are both aesthetically pleasing and emotionally affecting.