BIO
I expected to attend Art School, but life is capricious! In 1969 when I was 15, I auditioned for an art mentor and was accepted. Jack Cartlidge was a successful professional sculptor and Art Professor at two universities in Sarasota Florida. His faith in my talents and my determination prompted his careful suggestion that I travel the self-taught artist’s path. His directives included warnings and specific practices for my guidance.
Following his directives, I began creating my life as an Artist, diligently honing my talents while becoming uniquely successful. My art is scattered across the world and I’m not finished!
Artist’s Statement
My mentor’s list of directives contained a final warning...I was Female and therefore I would face greater challenges. This wasn’t news to me. I’d eavesdropped on female artists in my parent’s circle of acquaintances as they spoke of their deepest frustrations. Art school or not, I knew I faced difficult choices to become all that I wanted to be.
I began my creative journey with Wearable Art Jewelry Design. This provided a financially self-sustaining path for my initial artistic training. Through my unique creative expression, I gained the creative confidence and the technical expertise I needed. My gender wasn’t a big issue.
Then I discovered the usefulness of working in Series. I’d always challenged myself. I began expanding the parameters I’d set for each new series. My Wearable Art began to win awards and gallery sales!
Twenty years later I carried these exploratory practices for expanding my artistic clarity of voice and vision into the monoprints and paintings I created for National and International Art Agents. But Fine Art? A Female? Who happened to be self-taught?! These challenges hardened my determination and occasionally battered my sanity. But I persisted, ever evolving, expanding and refining my Art. Becoming who I knew I was meant to be.
In 2006, I was invited to join five American Women Artists for a month-long art residency in France. Just before I left a gallery removed all of my art from their collection. Not because I wasn’t selling but because I had no Art School credentials. They had no words to explain how one artist could paint in such disparate styles.
My Response: I am a Self-Taught Creative Expansionist Artist. I create in series, working within related and expanding bodies of artwork. I explore creative processes along with expanding intentions as I continually refine my artistic visual voice.