Updated: 4/29/04

Artist Statement - Color, gesture, texture, relationships, endlessly interest me. I watch the materials do what they do and get them to speak. Like the fossil that speaks for the animal that happened by in that moment thousands of years ago, I take a print of a gesture, or mark, and record it, not as an image but as an impression, captured in color on cloth that touches the senses. I use dyes rather than paints and choose light -weight silk, cotton, rayon, and linen instead of heavy canvas. I am currently focusing on a mono-printing and painting technique. Mono- printing is a way to achieve textural effects not possible by other means, in combination with the painting that can be spontaneous, gestural and unexpected.

Painting with dyes is unique because unlike paint, dye is thin transparent films of color that have no physical substance just illusive presence within the fabric structure. The fabrics, especially the silks, take the colors in a rich, glowing way that I believe cannot be matched with paint and canvas. I choose fabrics allowing the completed work to be cut, and shaped into objects that warm, comfort and adorn, to participate in life. Since 1980 I have been working with fabrics full time, making sellable, "wearable art", decorative fiber art for the walls or functional fibers for the home. Although most of my output is one-of-a-kind, I have designed for other designers, scarf and fabric companies, had my designs produced in Switzerland, established and ran a wearable art, clothing boutique, and taught textiles at Syracuse University. I am very interested and inspired by the links between art making and production, (the machinery &/or technology) ones chosen materials, and the intent, purpose or goal.