B.A. Industrial Arts, San Francisco State. I have exhibited all over Northern California and am looking for venues in Western Washington.
I live in a small cottage up on a hill a few blocks from Puget Sound with my husband, 2 cats and a wacko dog.
I work in many mediums but mostly in paper mache. I am also a singer/songwriter and perform regularly at Traditions Cafe in downtown Olympia Washington. I recently sang for a wedding at the Capital Building Rotunda.
I have a very accomplished son and daughter-in-law and 3 beautiful granddaughters who are talented in many things including art and ballet.
I live in a small cottage up on a hill a few blocks from Puget Sound with my husband, 2 cats and a wacko dog.
I work in many mediums but mostly in paper mache. I am also a singer/songwriter and perform regularly at Traditions Cafe in downtown Olympia Washington. I recently sang for a wedding at the Capital Building Rotunda.
I have a very accomplished son and daughter-in-law and 3 beautiful granddaughters who are talented in many things including art and ballet.
About Me - "Lemons to Lemon Bars"
The arts have helped me take lemons and make lemon bars.
Life experiences, pain and joy, get manipulated, stretched and molded into art.
Life has taken me down some difficult roads but my connection to my muse and my explorations in the arts have helped me to thrive.
In my years growing up in a rough working class family in Ohio I was introduced to and encouraged in the arts. At 15 I sang in small town productions of La Boheme and Madam Butterfly. My factory working father and stay at home mom sat proud as peacocks at opening nights. They showed off my pictures in the paper to their friends. It sure took the sting off those feelings of inadequacy that came from being treated second class by the angora sweater wearing crowds at the high school.
While raising my son as a single parent I started taking classes and eventually earned a B.A. in Industrial Arts, Magna Cum Laude from San Francisco State. It was a pretty strong antidote for the whispers and turned up noses that I got for being a welfare mom.
When I took art courses, including ceramics, later, after a long period of disability, I felt that I had rediscovered a joy I had once experienced using modeling clay as a child. Limited by space and access to kilns, I started experimenting with paper. I went from feeling crippled to confident.
Life experiences, pain and joy, get manipulated, stretched and molded into art.
Life has taken me down some difficult roads but my connection to my muse and my explorations in the arts have helped me to thrive.
In my years growing up in a rough working class family in Ohio I was introduced to and encouraged in the arts. At 15 I sang in small town productions of La Boheme and Madam Butterfly. My factory working father and stay at home mom sat proud as peacocks at opening nights. They showed off my pictures in the paper to their friends. It sure took the sting off those feelings of inadequacy that came from being treated second class by the angora sweater wearing crowds at the high school.
While raising my son as a single parent I started taking classes and eventually earned a B.A. in Industrial Arts, Magna Cum Laude from San Francisco State. It was a pretty strong antidote for the whispers and turned up noses that I got for being a welfare mom.
When I took art courses, including ceramics, later, after a long period of disability, I felt that I had rediscovered a joy I had once experienced using modeling clay as a child. Limited by space and access to kilns, I started experimenting with paper. I went from feeling crippled to confident.
My World View
Text Reads...
Goddess of Morning She wakes at dawn. offers herself like a new day, alive with inquisitive sensuality. She shelters secrets knows the time... when they are ripened on the vine. She is ageless, timeless, From the start The inner beauty of the heart. |
My world view started to develop after Jungian analysis for PTSD in my twenties. Studies in Jungian psychology, fairy tales, myths and dreams opened me to new creative possibilities that I explored. I attended a dream group for several years and continue to mine my unconscious for its hidden treasures for self-awareness and inspiration. Paper mache has been one on my favorite ways to manifest that inner voice, the muse.
Some artists have tried to use paper mache to accomplish realism. This can be done with wonderful results. See my resources page. The simplicity and crudeness of paper mache helped me to work in a more stylized, folk art and symbolist way that other mediums did not. My exploration into this modest medium seems to expand and evolve into endless interesting possibilities. Today I continue to experiment with different mediums. I also journal regularly to stay in touch with my muse and myself. I find the beautiful vistas and walks around Olympia’s harbors and through its magical woods a compelling source of inspiration. My Blog and Facebook pages will enable you to follow the inspiration and construction of my pieces. You can always reach me at papermuse101@gmail.com. I will gladly answer questions. |