I start with fabric I dye, paint, discharge, or print, and stitch, by hand and machine with a variety of threads, floss and yarn, chosen to create texture and movement.

Color usually comes first, an emotional and motivating force. Finding and creating patterns is next: the rhythm of things. What happens when seemingly unrelated elements come together? Patterns are both hidden and revealed. I am drawn to the dense visual surface. The tension between fore-and background mirrors one of the essential problems of city life. Bombarded by images, sound, clutter, chatter and message, how do we distinguish the important, the necessary and the real? What comes from within and what from without? What to keep, what to reject? This constant push/pull, interior and exterior, history and present, family and individual, and the resulting struggle for balance, informs my work. The quest is to create harmony amidst the chaos.

In 2004 I was awarded an exhibition grant by the IL chapter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. My work has appeared in Women in the Arts (Spring 2005) and in Craft Report (January 2007). One of my pieces appears in the book 500 Art Quilts and currently three of my artworks hang in the American Embassy in Côte d’Ivoire. I am the curator of SAQA’s exhibits Reflections, and Sightlines, and a founding member of the midwest exhibition group Fiber Artists Coaltion.