Biography

My work begins with poetry. I compose early in the morning, while sitting at my desk and looking out my window, or late in the afternoon, while watching people and eavesdropping in a cafe. When a poem is complete, I share it through print, voice, or visual art.

I have published in literary magazines such as Kalliope and Phoebe, and I have performed both solo and in collaboration with musicians at venues such as Hot House, Maxim’s, and Green Mill in Chicago, and King Corona Café in Tampa. Whether I am offering my words to a reader or a listener, I am honored to be part of both the quiet, ethereal or the more musical, lyrical traditions associated with poetry.

As part of my creative process, I can also feel when a poem needs to lift from the page or become something more tangible than sound, so I then work visually. My assemblage entitled, “In Celebration of My Typewriter,” showed and sold at the Gold Dragon Gallery in Tampa, and my installation entitled, “Makriva,” showed at Gallery 312 in Chicago. “Guadalupe,” an assemblage crafted from a dyed blue, bridal veil and a poem hand cut out of burgundy card stock, is available for sale.

I have recently completed a chapbook collection of poems that I hope to either publish or craft into mixed media, and I am now collaborating with musician and electronic composer, Benjamin Dauer. Together he and I are the musical project, The Dwindlers. One aspect of our music and poetry involves a project dedicated to some of the world’s important pollinators. I am also finishing a collection of vignettes inspired by important women artists in my life.

Current visual works-in-progress include: a baby blanket collage, an assemblage baby doll stroller, a hand made book of abaca eggs, a sewing collaboration with my Mom inspired by mermaid’s purses, and an assemblage involving a vintage pair of roller skates. To keep my drawing skills fresh, I am working on continuous line ink drawings, color pencil figure drawings, and some cartoon sketches inspired by the changing seasons.

When I am not writing or making art, I am dreaming of rollerblading, bicycling in the woods or a swamp, reading, or drinking coffee.