Artist Statement:
I paint the figure — women, children, dancers — because I am curious about what motivates us, what gets in the way, and what it takes to find our truest self. My semi-abstract and abstract figurative paintings explore the stories we are given and the ones we tell ourselves: the narratives shaped by the environments we are raised in, the stereotypes others place on us and we place on ourselves, and the persistent difficulty of hearing your own inner voice when the world is so loud. Whether those stories are accurate is less the point than what we do with them. Built up in acrylic layers of texture, glazes, sgraffito, and veiling, and buried typography and imagery, each piece holds more than it shows.
I came to this work through language — or rather, around it. As a child I pulled scraps of paper from my mother's wastebasket and copied the lines of letters I found there. I couldn't read. I didn't speak much until well past three. I remember my mother bargaining with me — the name of my favorite cereal in exchange for a bowl of it. I stubbornly refused. What I understood even then was that those uniform symbols marching across the page were doing important work — work I wanted to be part of, even before the words were available to me. I did not wish to speak unless I had something to say. But I understood, even then, how important it is to listen to the narrative.
Making things came naturally to me long before speaking did. Each painting begins as an accumulation — buried text, imagery, fragments of the stories running through my head — not a cohesive narrative but something closer to a poem, built from action and movement and then painted over, present but only partially visible. I was a dancer before I was a painter. Dance taught me about the pause — the breathing room between movements that gives everything around it somewhere to land, and makes the action that follows feel meaningful. I know the body and its expression through movement, and that knowledge lives in every figure I put on a surface.
Rooted in the Bay Area Figurative Movement and the expressive tradition of artists like Manuel Neri, I build paintings the way I understand experience — in accumulation. Layer on layer, each one informing and obscuring the last. Creating art is my preferred form of speech.
Exhibitions:
Deschutes Gallery, Rogue Valley Manor, Solo Exhibition, Medford Oregon
September 2026
James Morrison Collier Gallery, Collaborative Theatre Project, Two Person Show, Medford Oregon
March 2026
Garden Studio Sale, Ashland Oregon
June 2025
Project Space, Three Person Exhibition, Talent Oregon
October 2024
Haines Awardees Celebration Show, Ashland Oregon
June 2023
Ashland Gallery Association Exhibition, Ashland Oregon
March 2023
Ashland Gallery Association Artist Exhibition, CVA Gallery
April 22 2019
Ashland Gallery Association Artist Exhibition, CVA Gallery
April 28 2018
Ashland Open Studio Tour , Ashland Oregon
October 13 & 14th, 2018
Ashland Open Studio Tour, Ashland Oregon
October 14 & 15th 2017
Taste of Ashland group exhibit, The Thorndike Gallery, Ashland Oregon
April 2017
Weisingers Winery, Ashland Oregon,
May 2016 and May 2017
ANM group show, 'Goodbye, Hello' Ashland Oregon,
december 2016,
Holiday Art Show, Small Works by Five Friends
December 2015 and December 2016
Solo Show, Skye Salon, Talent Oregon
October 2015
“Figuratively Speaking” group exhibition, Rogue Gallery
Medford OR, January 2013
“The Figure Undressed” group exhibition, Rogue Gallery
Medford OR, March 2013
The Pomegranate Group Annual Shows, Studio AB
Ashland, OR March 2002-2013
Hilltop Station Featured Artist
Ashland OR, June 2013
“Art for SART” Featured artist
Jacksonville OR, July 2012 & 2013
Hanson Howard Gallery, Holiday Salon
Ashland OR, November-December 2007-2013
Revive Featured Artist
Ashland OR, October 2012
“Salon De Refuse”, Rogue Gallery
Medford OR, Feb18 – April 1, 2011
“Who Does She Think She Is?” Southern Oregon University, HEC Building
Medford OR, Sept-Oct, 2009
Hanson Howard Gallery Two Person Show
Ashland OR, June 2009
“Movement in Paint” Solo Show, The Thorndike Gallery
Ashland OR, March 5-30th 2007
“Taste of Ashland” 2007 Gala event
Quick Draw and Exhibit, April 2007
“Moons for Pluto” Group Show, Hanson Howard Gallery
Ashland OR, March 2007
“On Being Human” Group Show, Hanson Howard Gallery
Ashland OR, October 2006
Rogue Gallery Art Studio Tour, The Garden Studio
Ashland OR, September 23 & 24 2006
‘Taste of Ashland’ 2006 Gala event
Quick Draw and Exhibit, April 2006
Women’s History Month Group Show, Hanson Howard Gallery
Ashland OR, March 2006
Rogue Gallery Art Studio Tour, The Garden Studio
Ashland OR, September 24 & 25 2005
Open Studio, The Garden Studio
Ashland OR, June 12, 2005
‘Taste Of Ashland’ Exhibit, Studio AB
Ashland OR, 2003
‘Taste Of Ashland’ Poster
Ashland OR, 2003
‘Small Treasures’ The Rogue Gallery
Medford OR, November 2002
Women with Attitude Group Show, JEGA Gallery
Ashland OR, March 2002
‘Unveiled, Naked, Nude, Bare’ Studio A.B
Ashland OR, January 5-31, 2001
‘Gallery Showcase’ Private Studio Show
Portland OR, May 3, 1997
‘The Windmill Project’ The Conduit Building
Portland OR, March 1, 1997
‘New Beginnings’ REACH Community Development
Portland OR, February 6, 1997
The Drawing Studio’s Fifth Anniversary Show
Portland OR, September 1-14, 1996
Whitworth College, Solo Exhibit
Spokane WA, October 1991-January 1992
