I attended the University of Nebraska from 1970 to 1974 getting a B.F.A. in Art, with an emphasis in Ceramics. In 1976, I attended the SummerVail Art Workshop in Vail, Colorado working the entire summer with various teachers from around the country. At the end of 1977, I moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to study ceramics with John Ground, a renowned ceramist. While there, I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and to actually hold pieces of Asian ceramics that most people would not have the chance to even see. It had a profound effect on the way I not only viewed ceramics, but also the way I worked in ceramics. While in Lancaster I was also exposed to the large quilting community, which would later influence my work.
In 1978, I moved to Tacoma, Washington to attend the University of Puget Sound and earn my Master of Fine Arts degree. Two important meetings once again had a profound effect on the work I was doing. The first meeting consisted of three lectures given by Buckminster Fuller. The lecture describing his geodesic dome was most memorable. He came out on stage with a very floppy group of plastic rods, all attached to each other at both ends. As he continued to talk, he would periodically pull out one of the rods, until he finally was left holding three rods with not one bit of movement. This was the principle of his geodesic dome, all built with triangles. After that lecture I made a large series of clay slabs with grids and towers that were made of extruded triangles.
The second influential workshop was with Robert Brady. Robert Brady, a ceramic artist and teacher, introduced me to coil built pots on a huge scale. I spent my last year at the University of Puget Sound working on six foot high coiled pieces as well as more sculptural mixed media work.
During the summer after graduation in 1980, I attend the Banff Centre of Fine Arts in Banff, Alberta on a scholarship. I worked in ceramics during the summer, but spent a great deal of time with the people in the fiber department. Nedi-al-Helali, whose work I owned, was one of the artists teaching at Banff and a person that I very much admired. Her work was paper that was woven, pressed and painted to give a very three-dimensional look. Another Banff artist and teacher whose work I admired was a textile artist, Jack Lenor Larson.
When I returned to Seattle after the workshop I had no money and was searching for a job, while still wanting to work with my art. So I started using newsprint and Rit dye to create huge pieces in four-inch squares that were all glued to canvas and then painted. Some of the pieces contained found objects as well. It soon became apparent that these products were not going to work so I began experimenting with different papers and dyes, finally deciding to use Procion dyes and a lithography paper called "Arches 88".
My current work contains some old marbled paper, the dyed paper with both solid and "smoky dyed paper", and a richly colored black paper. "Smokey paper" is paper that has been cut first and then dyed in such a way that some get more dye than others, creating a "smoky effect." The influences of so many artists and ideas from these years are integrated in my work now. As I continue, I think about incorporating old letters written in San Francisco in the 1940's mixed with contemporary Japanese paper, with a hint of silk paper. The juxtoposition of various textures and colors and optical relationships draws me forward to new ideas.
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| Exhibits: |
- 1990-1999
- The Burkholder Project, Lincoln, Nebraska
- West Coast Paper Company, Kent, Washington
- Ricciardi Gallery, Astoria, Washington
- Lead Gallery, Seattle, Washington
- Plus Paper, Tucson, Arizona
- 1985-1989
- Washington Crafts 1889-1989, Then and Now
- Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
- Northwest Arts and Crafts, Bellevue, Washington
- Northwest Crafts 88, Tacoma, Washington
- 2nd Dimension, Chicago, Illinois
- 1979-1984
- Paper and Clay Exhibit, Memphis, Tennessee
- Clay and Fiber Exhibition, School of Fine Arts
- Banff, Alberta, Canada
- Drawing 1979, Spokane Falls College, Spokane, Washington
- 22nd National Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art
- Chautauqua Institution, New York
- Small Format Mixed Media, Corvallis, Oregon
- Big Sky Biennial 1979, Pocatello, Idaho
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Collections: |
- Banff Centre of Fine Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada
- Peoples Bank, Seattle, Washington
- Feduciary Counciling Inc., Tacoma, Washington
- Salty's restaurant, Seattle, Washington
- Heritage Group LTD, Tacoma, Washington
- Delta Airlines, Portland, Oregon
- Erickson and Barkshire Attorneys, Bellevue, Washington
- Pacific First Federal Bank, Seattle, Washington
- St. Joseph's Hospital & Care Center, Tacoma, Washington
- Accents Publications Service Inc., Washington D.C.
- The Learning and Language Center, Seattle, Washington
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