ARTIST PROFILE

ABOUT ME AND HOW "I DID IT"

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to look at my website.

By education, I am actually a psychologist with a specialty in Art Therapy. For many years I worked with the chronic mentally ill in hospitals, the jail and in the community. While doing this, in order to maintain my own sanity, I always found my own creative outlet. Years ago, I began making
"picture" pillows and patchwork quilts. I was also a student potter. In the early 1980's I took classes at the New York School of Design and moved into collage forms in many varied mediums. In 1995, while working with hospitalized psychiatric patients, several patients and I began making dolls using plastic bottles as bases. This intrigued me and I continued the doll making on my own. Eventually this became a springboard to creating small sculptures and assemblages using metals and found objects.

In 1998 I created a line of jewelry that was made from crib springs, recycled hardware and plumbing supplies. The wingnut and brass washer became my trademark. In 1999 I expanded my horizons and began working in sterling silver. Along with the hardware components, I began using semi-precious stones and, most recently, glass beads of all kinds. What sets my work apart from others, however, is the way I work the wire. My specialty is creating my own link designs. Each link is individually hand fabricated and incorporated into the piece I am working on. Although I am serious about my pieces, I still try to maintain a sense of spontaneity and whimsy. Color and shape are vitally important to me and most often I let a piece "happen" without a pre-conceived idea. The piece leads. I follow. For the most part, this method works out well for me.

Currently, I am a member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the Pennsylvania Guild of Crafters.

That in a nutshell (or a wingnut) explains who I am and how "I Did It".

CLIENT LIST

MY CLIENT LIST HAS INCLUDED THE CORNING GLASS MUSEUM, THE SANDWICH GLASS MUSEUM ( CAPE COD ), THE ZIMMERLE ART MUSEUM ( RUTGERS UNIV. ), THE CHICAGO BOTANICAL GARDENS, ZIEMKE GLASS BLOWING (VERMONT), THE CHICAGO ARCHITECTURAL FOUNDATION AND BOUTIQUES AND GALLERIES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.