About

I am a maker. I am happiest and most fulfilled when I’m using my hands and creating. I love to sew. I enjoy drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking, but I always return to fabric. I am intrigued by the hues, the patterns, the textures, and the history of textiles. I transform fabrics into art, clothing, bags, bowls—anything I can think of, by hand and by machine. 

Although I am passionate about fabric, it has become impossible to ignore the increasing horrible environmental and human abuses in the current global textile market. In response, I co-founded the nonprofit creative reuse organization Up-Stitch. We collect fabric, yarn, and needlework materials that were destined for a landfill and sell them back to the local crafting community while raising awareness about these issues. We also donate much of our materials to other non-profit groups in the area.

I have always been inspired by the rich history of flowers depicted in art, both for their inherent aesthetic value and as symbols of life and renewal. I have often used flowers in my art and this has led me to coral reefs. These animal polyps have similar characteristics to flowers: vibrant colors, repeated shapes and patterns, with an added dimension of fluid movement. Devastating global warming is threatening to eliminate the coral reef, causing it to first lose its color and then die. My recent embroidery work explores this climate tragedy and the coral reef’s transition from spectacular beauty to ghostly skeletal forms. I depict topographical maps of regions under threat with gradations of colored fabric. I use embroidery to symbolize the shapes of the coral reef and its phases of color change. These works use only reclaimed fabric and thread to underline the textile industry’s participation in problematic climate change.  

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT

Woodland Hill Montessori School, K-8 Art & Makerspace Teacher, 2018 - present

Up-Stitch, Inc., Co-Founder and Co-Manager, 2017 - present

ART EXHIBITIONS

Washington Park, Troy, NY, The Pothole Project, 2019

Albany Barn Gallery Albany, NY, Lost & Found, 2015

Waterford Public Library, Waterford, NY, Altered Books, 2015

KMOCA Gallery, Kingston, NY, 100 Halos, 2009

Kingston Natural Foods Gallery, Kingston, NY, Oil and Thread Paintings, 2009

Serimony Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Adorn By Needle (solo show), 2007 

Muroff Kotler Gallery, Stone Ridge, NY, Beyond Self, 2007 

No Space Gallery, Rosendale, NY, Annual Holiday Show, 2006   

Serimony Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Watercolors (solo show), 2006 

Muroff Kotler Gallery, Stone Ridge, NY, Open Ends, 2005 

Varga Gallery, Woodstock, NY, Thread Paintings and Others, 2005 

Woodstock Gallery of Art, Woodstock, NY, Paintings and Peepholes, 2005 

EDUCATION

SUNY New Paltz, B.S. in Visual Art Education, 2012

Northwestern University, Master of Fine Arts, Scenic Design, 1997

Hofstra University, Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1994