After many careers: artist, graphic designer, mother, and industrial advertising sales; I've resumed my first love art.
Drawing was my first expression. Because of my early and natural abilities in art, I spent a good portion of my early years decorating nuns' classrooms of the grammar school I attended in Chicago. One nun recommended my parents send me to the Junior School of The Art Institute. There, my eyes opened to the variety & impact of fine art. I studied art in an independent program at Wright Junior College, which I transferred to The School of the Art Institute's BFA program, but wasn't sure how to utilize fine art to support myself. In the 60's I designed direct mail for a major insurance firm in Chicago. Although I was the token female of the firm and industry, I garnered industry awards as well as a Chicago Graphics Award. Once a full time mom, I furthered my art education in watercolor, collage and fiber and paper sculpture.
In the early 80's I underwent a series of carpel tunnel surgeries to relieve numbness & pain in my hands. The failed result was worse then the original symptoms and a severely diminished feeling & mobility in my right hand. I avoided situations where dexterity was required and expressed my creativity with cooking and decorating and a new career, helping small businesses increase their sales through effective advertising. Success in advertising sales gave me confidence.
Now, retired, I still have the creative urge. I spend half the year in Lake Geneva, WI and half in Tucson, AZ. Both naturally beautiful areas inspire the organic forms, which are found in my work. Encaustic is a medium I can carve, inscribe, build up and color. Its flexibility is both earthy and otherworldly like both locations in which I live. It allows me to connect the geology: the erosions, water and plant life into a sculptural and collage based wax pieces. It is thrilling to again to be creating and exhibiting, to feel joy in my ability and the continuum of my life's consistent effort: art.
