Introduction:
Welcome to my Web Book. I've made many different types of work from the 70's to the present. Each step is related to the next and the development of my ideas can easily be seen by looking through the work. So take a look, ask questions or make comments using the contact box.
Bio: Life and Work
I grew up on Long Island, a suburban girl rescued by my mother who had grown up in New York City. From the time I was very young, 7 or 8, she kept me out of school to go to museums and theater. I soaked up the cultural life of the city and by the time I was 12, I knew I would be an artist.
While attending New York University, I met artists, and spent my nights at Max's Kansas City. Talking with John Chamberlain, Robert Smithson and other fascinating artists was fruitful. At the 1970 Whitney Annual I met John CopIans, then editor of ARTFORUM, who became my mentor and critic for 30 years.
Paintings
From my teens on, I painted in the abstract expressionist way. In 1973 I went to Missouri to teach, where I started a calligraphic series of painting. After 3 years of teaching, came a residency at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos. On returning to New York I began my Memory Paintings based on recollections of Missouri and New Mexico. Next came the Rocks on Water series, then a black butterfly I saw in Mexico initiated a new series. It was an important series, because it was my first use of a shaped canvas. The simplicity of the butterfly shape brought me to geometry. In a short time I was making large shaped paintings. I made many that were several simple parts hung together to form a more complicated whole. But then the work became complex in it's construction so I began making wood reliefs.
Wood Sculpture
Although the wood grain was paint-like, the materials, methods and working process changed completely. I developed a system combining and re-combining basic geometric shapes in drawings, and when I arrived at the image I wanted, I had the work fabricated. The first reliefs were assembled of basic geometric forms. The image became more simplified, while the intellectual concept became more complex. I was fascinated by the universality of ancient forms.
Metal Sculpture
Making sculpture in metal began soon after the wood reliefs. The material, aluminum, is the source of much visual effect. It is rigid and perfect, allowing for the desired exacting construction, yet it glows and shimmers, looking magical or other-worldly.
Drawings
There have been years when I only made drawings. They affect my art completely, I could not produce my work without it. Drawing has always been a major part of my art.