About the artist

      I was the only child of pacifist, vegetarian parents in Sheboygan, Wisconsin where these descriptive words were almost like a foreign language.  My mother, read “Silent Spring” when it was first published.  In short, I was an oddball in my hometown.  My ethics and themes have followed me:  peace, nature, protecting nature, birds, which my father, a dentist, also loved.  I studied music and art as a kid, and was guided toward art as a better bet for earning a living.

     At the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design, I majored in oil painting.  I took an etching class with Frank Cassara, which was terribly difficult; I was completely mystified the entire semester.  But somehow, also, hooked.  And I immediately had my own style.  I could show my first etchings today without embarrassment.

       I studied printmaking in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin also illustrating for the Botany Department.  It was a perfect job for someone who loves plants.  I illustrated a book on lichens by John Thomson. I have always worked on site, plein air etching, as it were, or from super detailed photos.

      I prefer to spend my time creatively.  I am particularly interested in doing practical items as well as mixed media.  Hence, clocks, boxes, copper fountains.  I also like doing work with messages.  The challenge is to create images that people like and that have a message or are enlightening.  I think it’s easier in music.  The beat and the sounds are entertaining even when the lyrics are sad, hard-hitting, or controversial.

      Living in Wellfleet suits me.  I have a small passive solar, earth-sheltered house on a marsh, central yet secluded.  I strive for sustainability.  I have one daughter, Savannah, named for a grass land ecosystem with trees.