[ B I O G R A P H Y ]

“The bud stands for all things, even those things that don't flower......” -Galway Kinnnel
Art re-teaches me the loveliness of precious art works, and I have flowered again because I can share my art with you. When I visit homes that have blank walls, it encourages me to reawaken people's awareness of the magic of the French Fauvist's and Impressionist's and their contribution to art and history. Artist's like Dufy and Matisse's decorative and colorful styles helped develop my awareness of color and design. Life flowers again from within me, and I channel their vision and skills into my watercolors. My hope is that my paintings elevate your knowledge and appreciation of travel and art history, and that you enjoy my imaginative interpretations and my whimsical point of view…

My art is inextricably tied to events in my life. While a student in San Francisco and Lausanne, Switzerland I began to have an avid interest in the French language and artists. I am absorbed by the Fauvists who had a brief life in the history of twentieth century painting, but their path to color has always inspired my imagination. Since then, my influences include the “naive” style of Fanch Ledan, the elegance of Russian Impressionists, and the precocious and unruly voice expressed in the pictorial art of Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

I finished my Master’s of Special Education with an emphasis in art therapy from the University of Utah, and surrounded myself with beautiful prints of the Master’s in my classroom. In my English and History curriculum's, I used art projects as a means to evaluate student's handicaps, using art as a therapy with my students for twenty eight years. I also spent a year studying art history with Frank Sanguinetti at the University of Utah where I completed over 300 hours of post-graduate credits in the humanities. As an adjunct teacher at Westminster College, I taught Children's literature. As a result, some of my work includes imaginary people and places.

I retired from teaching in 2013 and studied for seven years with Harold Peterson, a local watercolorist. My pieces in this exhibit are interior landscapes/visions of my travels, current events, and from my imagination. I merge the impact of setting and vivid colors in my paintings mostly using a flat brush, watercolors, acrylics, and sometimes an ink pen. My palette has been inspired by Russian, African, Ukrainian, French and Latino art. Each culture has its own unique set of colors. In this exhibit, my most recent paintings reflect celebrations from birth to death including: a scene from Q2's pageantry funeral, Holly and Willow (Q2's favorite corgis), Mardi Gras a Paris, A Fractured Fairy Tale, Un Espirit Joyeux, and Enfants dansant.

Acknowledgement:
I started to exhibit in 2013 with Phillips Gallery. Now after ten years, I am ingrained and indebted to that “family” who have nurtured my emergence as an artist. I have had local recognition at the Utah State fair, the Holladay Art Council exhibits, and earned honorable mention at the 95th Springville Spring Salon where I have had 6 paintings accepted at their Spring Salon in four years (2019-2022). A judge's comment: “Delightful, prescient. You can tell the artist has a joyous heart and has retained an understanding of what Picasso said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when you grow up.”