I was born in New York, New York, the daughter of two artists. Our father was a very successful illustrator and fine artist. Our mother is a fine painter. I have a beloved brother and a beloved sister. Outside of his painting, Dad’s interest was cultural diplomacy. Having made international connections with his work for the OSS during WWII, he was sent abroad several times by the State Department and other organizations to give lectures intended to create bridges between cultures and improve the lives of artists everywhere. We grew up surrounded by an international circle of artists, musicians, and writers, often hosting them at our house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Our house was akin to living in the United Nations. As part of the famous cultural exchange program between the US and Russia in the 1950s, Dad made a visit to Russia in 1958. Reciprocally, we hosted Russian artists in Bucks County and planted a tree as a memorial to the event. Somewhere there is a drawing of Khruschev that Dad made at a dinner in Moscow.
At another memorable childhood moment, I came downstairs one morning to find one of the Dalai Lama’s brothers doing his morning yoga ritual on the living room rug.
Ours was an unusual, even unique family. Mom is half French, has spent a significant part of her life in France and we retain a very close relationship to our family there. Her family consists of a number of artists and artisans.
As a child I was occasionally taken to figure drawing classes and started drawing classical anatomical sculpture in Dad’s studio. Our family had a very extensive library, mostly art, literature and history. I was encouraged to experiment creatively; encouraged to “see” from alternate perspectives; encouraged in the idea that inspiration can come from any source. As a result, I was driven to work in diverse mediums, and in diverse ways. I enjoy drawing, sculpting and painting from life, objectively, but the thrust of most of my work for the past 35 years is in the exploration of abstracted structure. Of interest to me is the concept of magic, of scale, of wrapping, concealing, revealing, layering, of maps, of making the mind ask questions about the image. What lies behind and beyond the elements of the image?
My family, my happy youth, and my life experiences are the most profound sources of material in my work.
Nuts and Bolts
I received a BFA in Studio Arts from Syracuse University, continuing my studies post-graduate from Syracuse University, Arizona State University, USC, UCLA and College of Marin. I worked 20 years for film industry leading visual effects house Industrial Light & Magic. My work there involved creating camera-ready photo-real practical objects and later evolved into creating digital photo-real imagery. I worked about 16 more years for other effects houses, last working for Phil Tippett at Tippett Studios. Perhaps a surprise to some, I found this work inspiring in relation to my own work. In 2021 I stepped away from the Visual Effects Industry to continue pursuing my own artistic projects. My CV page can take it from there…
