Photo courtesy of the Lakefield Herald
A Little History:
Being raised on both coasts of North America, my childhood imagination was nourished by the forests and oceans. Drawing, painting and music were encouraged and eventually I attended Mt. Allison University’s Fine Arts Program in the mid 1960’s.
In 1971, four months of overland travel in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and India, during a brief time of relative peace in all countries, crystalized into a collection of extraordinary life experiences. Later, I moved to an old farmhouse in the Gatineau Hills, Quebec, living without electricity or a car for three remarkable years. During that time I mounted several solo exhibitions in the Ottawa area showing prints, paintings, mixed media, textile work and body prints.
Then, together with my husband, came the years of moving and re-building log and timber frame houses in the Perth, Almonte and Westport areas, and raising two fine daughters. I also taught some art classes and spent fourteen years in museum curatorship, the last seven in Peterborough at The Hutchison House Museum.
Since 1999 I have been making art full time, had four solo and several group shows in the Kawartha Lakes area, participated in many art festivals, been part of the Art Gallery of Peterborough’s Autumn Studio Tour, and completed numerous painting and textile commissions. In February of 2010 Campbell House Museum Gallery in Toronto held a solo exhibition of my contemporary fine art quilts.
At the 2010 Ottawa Art Expo I was presented with the Trailblazer Award for outstanding artistic achievement in the spirit of Tom Thomson.
Arabella, a Canadian magazine of art, architecture and design, featured my work in the Winter 2009/2010 issue. The Quilter Magazine, February/March 2013 issue, featured my work in an article by Veronica Leonard titled ”When the Art of Quilting Becomes the Quilting of Art”.
My piece, Light In The Forest, has been included in Art Works, a new art education book published by Edmond Montgomery Publications of Toronto. This is the first Canadian visual arts text book published in over 20 years.
In May of 2012, I was presented with an award of recognition by the County of Peterborough for Leadership In Arts and Culture.
My work continues primarily in the medium of textiles, intensively hand worked in raw silks, batiks and fine cottons. Recent explorations with liquid dyes painted on wet silk or cotton are always exciting and a little bit dangerous to handle effectively but very delicate and luminous. Mixed media is the newest direction in my art practice and involves combining images of antique wallpapers and other materials with painting suggesting a look into the past.