CV/Bio
I was born in the San Fernando Valley and live there now. I went to Catholic schools and later earned a Master’s Degree in literature from UCLA, focusing on the existential aspects of Black, Chicano and Women’s literature, essentially the disenfranchised.
When I came to painting about 18 years ago, it was no surprise that I was drawn to work done by Outsider, Folk, Aboriginal, and African American artists, such as Basquiat, Romare Bearden and Rik Van Iersel. I have always seen beauty in ordinary people and things, and that work fed my desire. I am mostly self-taught, taking art classes sporadically, most notably workshops with Katherine Chang Liu and Franklyn Liegel, both of whom have had a strong influence on my art and my level of confidence in my direction.
I work most often in collage, but also in various water media, and my choice of materials influences the work I do. I have a body of work that is more in the folk genre--colorful and whimsical and often humorous, as well as much work that is more in the Outsider tradition, with a more urban primitive bent.
I use acrylic paint, house paint, graphite-- anything that provides color, and collage materials that are often scavenged. For support I use anything that catches my eye that can reasonably be collaged and painted on: paper, canvas, wood panels, old parts of furniture--whatever I find. Many times my studio resembles a construction site, and I am happy in that environment.
My work is in collections in the US, Canada and Germany, and has been shown in various galleries in California, as well as Mad Art Gallery in St. Louis, MO, Merkel Gallery, Rheinfelden, Germany and the Gallery of Czech culture, Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic.