Curated Expressions in Mixed Media Art

I use mixed media, combining found and discarded papers and items on which I blend paints, markers, colored pencils, ephemera, and even other reused items. I focus on the reusing of items in order to give them new lives – to continue their journeys.

I find it important to continue the lives of items that have been created and then discarded. Those items have more to offer. Once I make a connection with an item, I listen, following the next direction that that item and I choose together.

There is pattern work in my art. It develops as a way of expressing both the sameness of things and the differences that are exposed when you look closely.

I am informed and inspired by folk artists. Traditional folk art reflects the maker's cultural heritage and environment. Bill Traylor and Lee Jung-seop created art on whatever materials were available to them, out of necessity, and that is how I began. That is how I choose to continue, using and saving discarded items.

The items I choose are offering themselves to me, and I respect that and honor that in my creations.

Even if it is a discarded piece of paper, I am going to give it a second life, a new journey.

I strongly feel that way about people as well, that no one should be discarded and that everyone has something to share, to offer.