My process...who I am and how I work goes back to the kitchen table as a young girl growing up on Long Island. Our family discussions - everything from art to politics to food. Art took the lead at the table; I think mostly because my dad's best friend was an art collector, and my dad was fascinated with art history and stories of artists. It was here at that table that the freedom to speak one's mind was encouraged in me and my brothers.
This intention was filled with the breath of curiosity, wonder, and love. For that I am grateful, and for the gift of seeing ,sensing as an’ eternal beginner’ ; an invaluable lesson harvested amidst the smells and tastes of family dinner.
Yet this was was shadowed and weighted by the history of generations of migrating immigrants. Loss, trauma , fear , fortitude and survival played out in 3 generations as a silent Presence-a seemingly uninvited but recurring guest!
And within micro minutes, what started as a blossoming dialogue turned into chaos ; everyone speaking at the same time and no one could be heard. And as the voices got louder there was the sound of the fist pounding on the glass table for ‘ decorum ‘.
It was at this glass table that never broke , in the sunny kitchen where my mother was stirring something or other, that a YEARNING , a Calling to BE Seen ,Heard ,Witness/ed was emerging.
My passion and commitment to becoming an artist was ignited during those experiences and began to form the backbone of a life of exploration in the arts. dance,..painting, drawing…choreography.
The charcoal seeps through the canvas, the yellow ochre drips, the bones are revealed, age and this life are marked. Handprints are left unscripted. Ancestral footprints walk across the canvas and ghosts collide. I sometimes distort to be more accurate to the truth I see.
I learn by doing.
This is my journey...it is sacred play, full of surprises and ever open to the mystery of this life.
