Both of my parents come from farming families who were rich in talent.  On my father's side, I have relatives who excel at drawing skills, woodwork, and other crafts.  My mother's family loves the word.  They are writers, readers, and intellectuals.  My parents shaped our environment with their creative hands and encouraged any spark they saw in us.  So, at an early age, I was allowed to explore many different crafts.  I found that I was happiest when I was making something and that love for the process continued to grow as I matured. 

I am of Nordic stock and look like it.  A big Viking, my dress has also been a part of my creative canvas.  I may live in jeans and t-shirts, but my soul is all about embroidery, shisha mirrors, fringe and beads.  Certainly, growing up in a multi-cultural environment and then working with ethnic crafts for a couple of decades has worked its way into my fabric, but there must be an ancestral calling that also makes its voice heard.

For three years, I worked as a production potter.  I absolutely loved it and still miss working with clay.  I moved into fabric and found that I approached it with the same interest as I had found in clay.  Many years later, I have bins of fabric and supplies taking over my living space, like any fiber addict, my path was set.

Every now and then, I will make a run of purses, pillows, hats and other smaller pieces to sell.  But, I like the challenge of fabric manipulation and I like to work big.  That means making a time commitment to pieces which may take months to complete.  Slowly, my body of work is expanding, but many of my best pieces are still in my head.

I am also fascinated with finding new ways of recycling what is headed for our landfills.  Lately, I have been experimenting with paper weaving, using wall paper samples and dog food bags to make purses.

Texture, hand sewing, beads, embellishments, embroidery...  These are the components I like to include in my work.  I enjoy the design process, problem solving, and the persistence of  working on a piece more than the finished work.  Once it is done, I am chewing on the next project.  I have been fortunate to have several commissions in the past that allowed me to explore some of these ideas and hope that more doors will open in this area.

My work so far would probably be considered as functional craft.  I do not really care what it is called, but I have been feeling the itch lately to move into pieces that make a social statement.  Then, I guess, that would be considered art.  All I know is that I have to engage myself in transforming and adorning what is around me: my self, my walls, and some pieces of fabric...