Perched high on a cliff above the Snake River in a remote area of Idaho is the one-room rock studio designed by Frank Lloyd Wright where I live. Like the rock outcropping, the studio is one with nature and all that is – a refuge where the continuous presence of the river, with its light and seasons, offers the unceasing solace of nature, a direct experience of the eternal, and an acute awareness of life’s impermanence. The vast desert landscape, though desolate and stark, gushes with a thousand springs. It is Nature at this raw cliff side edge that reveals what is essential. My artwork is a result of this dialogue.
In homage to what is eternal within us, my artwork reflects the inherent and implicate wholeness of existence that is often out of awareness because of the din of contemporary life. It reflects the stillness within each of us – the peace we yearn for, yet somehow seems inaccessible -- and brings it to the center of our awareness.
I began making art during the extended illness of my mother to help her to heal and to alleviate her suffering. I imagined art could heal. I imagined art could emanate love. I imagined art as prayer. A transcendent experience at her death began a search for truth through the creation of beauty.
The vessel form, archetypal symbol of the feminine, is intrinsic to my work. An expression, in form, of the formless reality that we are; the vessels illuminate the power of peace and the recuperative power of love found in the infinite field of silence within us.
I have long-standing interests in philosophy, religion, architecture, music, psychology, dreamwork, consciousness, and healing. Prior to becoming an artist in 1988, I did extensive hospital work with critically ill children and adults, and private practice work; and hold a M.S. degree in counseling psychology from the University of Oregon. I have been most influenced by my travels in Africa and India.