Biography:

My mother is an artist and when I was a little girl, I would make little clay worms in her studio while she made pottery. I learned early on the fun of using my hands to make art.  

Following her lead, I took some pottery and sculpture classes in college. In 1972, I became a full time ceramic artist, progressing from making functional ware to sculptures made of lace. In the late 1970s, I wrote to Owens Corning Glass and received some cones of fiberglass yarn. I crocheted the yarn, dipped it in porcelain clay and fired it. These pieces were very successful and were shown in Belgium, where they won a special prize.  

This avenue led me to fiber art. Straddling the line of functional and sculpture, fiber art fulfilled my creative needs. I showed my work in galleries and shops and designed rugs, pillows and sweaters for magazines. I self-published Making Fantasy Vests in 1983. Following that publication, I organized a show about knitting and crochet past and present.  In conjunction with that show, I took slides of the images and made an aural tape that accompanied the pictures. 

With a segueway into desktop publishing and editing, I became interested in book art. I designed some papercrafts for The Learning Company’s Printmaster software program and that led me back into paper.  I love origami and all paper art---lighting and sculpture, boxes and books.  

Artist books is a big genre, incorporating altered books and strange structures that don’t look like the conventional book that you find in a library. This makes for some fun; I like to push the boundaries of what associations I have with books and reading as an activity. This seems to be my avenue.   

I love to teach book art. I have taught locally here in northern California since 2009. Whether it is technique or aesthetics or both, communication with others gives me ideas and helps me understand how art and people come together. I like to teach small groups and individuals, preferring to give as much attention to each student as necessary.