About Me
I’m lucky to have been raised in a household of artistic cheerleaders. My parents are professional musicians and I grew up playing the violin, and in adulthood taught myself how to play the banjo. I was also encouraged to draw at a very young age and in high school it was a gift of acrylic paints and canvas that jump started my love of creating visual art. I pursued the arts in college with a BFA in Industrial Design at Carnegie Mellon University with a concentration in music. After having children of my own, I discovered a love of teaching and went back to school. I received a MA in Art Education so that I may pass on my passion for art-making.
About My Art
My studio practice is rooted in rhythm – long continuous lines and pattern making that invite the mind to settle. Inspired by a lifetime immersed in music and in the movement found in the natural world – especially the Russian River where my family spends a lot of time – I explore how repetitive mark-making can quiet an overstimulated brain and anchor us in the present moment. I myself suffer from focal seizures, which are a type of epileptic seizures that affect a small portion of the brain. Focal aware seizures are invisible to others, but internally they cause distress and acute anxiety. In 2019, in a desperate moment to quiet my mind, I turned to drawing lines and found that that this method of methodical mark-making became a tool to help slow down the surge of electrical activity firing in my brain. Now my seizures are well controlled, but I still draw Mandalas and other pattern centric designs as a means of reducing anxiety. Out of this realization, my workbook Drawing In Rhythm was born.
Merging Art and Teaching
While I feel fortunate that I’ve always had the means to process life’s ups and downs through art, I know that there are many people who have not. It is my mission to offer others the opportunity to heal and thrive from drawing, just as I did. I am a strong advocate for the arts, and I believe that teaching art, and drawing in particular, imparts in people a sense agency, empowerment, and a growth mindset that they can carry with them into all aspects of life. As an artist, teacher and mother of three children, I make sure to find time in my week to recharge, which includes spending an hour or two alone with my sketchbook and a cup of coffee, in a location that’s either surrounded by greenery, water, or on a hill overlooking the city.