ABOUT ME

Through my work I explore themes of sense of place and human connection to the landscape. I am curious about how we develop a sense of identity connected to places, and how we visually represent places versus how we experience them in person. Working in painting, digital photography, and mixed media, I combine and obscure topographic maps of Oregon and Washington with photographic and digital images of the landscape.

 

I grew up in the rural northwest corner of Connecticut, and at an early age developed a love of hiking, camping, and exploring the great outdoors. After earning my BFA in Sculpture at James Madison University in Virginia, and getting a K-12 teaching license, I packed my car and drove cross-country to the great Pacific Northwest in 2007 and never returned back east. After spending a few wonderful years in Seattle, teaching K-8 Art and exploring the Cascades, I headed down to Portland and completed my MFA in Contemporary Art Practice at Portland State University.

 

I currently reside Portland and teach K-5 Art at the only Art-focus Elementary school, in the Portland Public School district, Buckman Elementary. Teaching allows me to fill my summer with travel and adventure, as I am always looking for great trails to hike or backpack with my husband and our dog, Frederick. My love of exploring, mapping, and documenting the great outdoors is interwoven into my art. And I feel fortunate to get the time between adventures to create paintings, sculptures, photography, and fiber art in my studio at my home in southeast Portland.