I am a full time artist living in Helena, Alabama, using many media including pastels, acrylic, pen & ink and mixed media collages. But my greatest love is drawing in any medium.
“There is nothing more beautiful than an expressive, fluid line on a piece of paper.” My love of detail and color adds life to my drawings, pastels and paintings.
I have always wanted to be an artist, as you can see by the story I wrote in second grade! I was always drawing…or reading a book.
I earned a BFA in Art and Art Education at the University of South Dakota. I have continued to learn in workshops from leading artists in the Southwest, including, Camille Pryzewodek, Ben Konis, Jerry Seagle, Carolyn Bunch, Alan Flatman, Christine Debrowsky, Mike Mahon, and Sara Chambers. I have shared my love of art by giving many demonstrations to local arts groups. It is fun to have non- artists be amazed at what I think is just an easy process!
Before settling in El Paso in 1999, I had my own business for twenty years, specializing in decorative arts and crafts. When I moved to El Paso, I could leave the “country crafts” behind and focus on fine arts. I was fascinated by the colors and the light of the desert and the surrounding mountains that were so foreign to a Midwesterner. My photographer husband, Charlie, and I have been lucky to have traveled all over Mexico, from Chihuahua to Chiapas, from the Baja to the Yucatan, and many places in between.
I was embraced by the El Paso Art community when I lived there. I was able to be in many shows and exhibits throughout the years, including shows in Mexico. I was excited to have my first one person show at the Hal Marcus Gallery. Charlie and I were honored to be asked to have a joint show at the Chamizal National Memorial…our first show together. I gave back to the community by donating art to many worthy causes. My work appeared on the cover of the El Paso Scene over thirty times.
Seeing your art work in a national art magazine is very exciting and I have been honored three times. Two times my drawings have been included in drawing anthology books and after 13 years of trying, one of my pastels was featured in the Pastel Journal’s Pastel 100 in 2021.
One of my proudest achievements was being inducted into my High School’s Hall of Achievement in 2008 as an Outstanding Graduate.
In 2012, I was honored to be one of 100 artists included in the “Inquisitive Eyes-El Paso Art, 1960-2012” at the El Paso Museum of Art.
In Memoriam
Charlie, my husband in both life and art, died on June 2, 2022. We met each other later in life, but we had 27 wonderful years together…traveling to all the places we loved and living our best life in El Paso. He supported my artistic career and his photos were often the inspiration for my paintings.
