ARTIST STATEMENT

Am I the only one who feels unsure of myself? I doubt it. We go through this life together with unspoken worries, anxieties, and regrets. This characteristic of the human condition is bewildering and leads me to explore vulnerabilities in people, their faults and foibles.

In sociology class, I learned the term anthropomorphism, the assigning of human characteristics to a god, animal, or inanimate object, something a good sociologist is not to do. I loved the concept and not surprisingly I find I impose human vulnerabilities on glaciers, trees, and other things touched by time and man.

When I look at the breadth of my art, contrasts play heavily into the concept. Of course, strength and fragility rises as a main underlying force, but on an operative level I like the contrast of colors and textures, light and dark.

In a recent series I call the Corona series I explore our vulnerability in-light-of uncontrollable and unpredictable external events. The tiny Corona virus we could not see inflicted unbelievable torment, leaving us overwhelmed and exposed. Similar feelings occur when we encounter larger-than-life threats like fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes. I began this series when the fires in California were raging in 2019. Winds and conditions turned the fires at a whim and people found themselves racing down melting asphalt roads to escape. When the Corona virus struck the analogy was palpable and so a more general concept emerged.

Early on, I found silk dyeing and loved the wicking of dye on silk.  Silk has wonderfully vivid and transparent qualities when dyed. I use a variety of methods of applying the dye from painterly to Shibori to printing.

I adapted a technique to adhere dyed silk to acrylic glass. The silk seems to become one with the glass allowing me to create three-dimensional art pieces that stand upright, so that light can shine through and exploit the dyed silk’s vibrant quality. These pieces show equally well from the backside. I usually cut the acrylic glass into supportive shapes.

My background and work experience started in data and technology, which allowed me to move from a research laboratory to social psychology and eventually into medical research. After years of working in the rigors of research, I shifted to the more intuitive aspects of art; still bringing with me my strength in technology.

In 2009, I completed the University of Washington Fiber Arts Certificate Program to launch into the challenges of an art profession. There I learned the importance of artist concept and the business of art. I have further studied with many artists in the fiber art field to refine my expertise in techniques. I have also learned to use wood shop and laser cutting machines.

In 2018, I was juried into both the Northwest Designer CraftArtists, a five-state membership of eclectic fine crafts artists, and the Art Cloth Network, a North American group of fiber artists.

I have shown my art in twenty plus juried exhibitions and an equal number of non-juried.

I completed a bachelor’s degree in social psychology and a master’s in business in quantitative methods.