I like to combine textures, creating tension between thick and thin, soft and hard, rough and smooth. Along with organic fibers, I am also intrigued by natural dyes: the soft, earthy colors that our ancestors learned to extract from plants and insects: the indigo blues, marigold yellows, cochineal reds, and onion browns. The colors always vary, diverse and unpredictable, like Nature herself.
Technology expands my choice of media for expression, and occasionally I am drawn to digital media in my work. I enjoy experimenting with this media, particularly to make statements about the growing gap between technology and our abilities to use it humanely.
But ultimately, nothing can replace for me the patterns in natural materials and the look and feel of natural fiber: the crimp of wool mirroring an oak’s craggy bark; the veins of a leaf matching the river’s mark on the land. When working with natural materials I feel aligned with the forces that permeate Nature. Art is my way of connecting. It brings me home to my dreams, my memories, and my Self.