Looking back, my love affair with arts and crafts permeates some of my earliest reckonings.

My grandmother, an accomplished artist herself, would sit in her sun-filled room braiding her exquisite rugs. Her raw materials, wool coats from the local thrift store, were strewn about. I would sit at her feet pouring over the numerous old cookie tins filled with the buttons she removed from the wool clothing. Today, many of these buttons are a part of the larger collection I sparingly use to adorn the tops of my hand-built paper boxes. These buttons along with small stones, sea glass and other objects are all part of my current work.

The metamorphosis into my current situation as artist, teacher and gallery owner took a somewhat non-traditional route. A bachelors Degree in Wildlife Conservation from the University of Vermont brought me to Boston to work for an international wildlife organization. Following were several jobs in the graphic design field and then finally to Wheelock College for a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. After several years as a classroom teacher my husband and I started a family. Luckily a position opened for an Art Teacher at the same school. I have now been teaching elementary school art for 14 years while raising our 2 girls.

As the children got older I went back to my own art work. I moved into a studio in downtown Natick in 1999 where I continue to create my art today.

Good luck brought me to the group of women I now work with as owners of Five Crows, a shop exhibiting the work of over 100 local artists in Natick Center. Five Crows also provided me with the first opportunity to sell my work on a consistent basis.  We have been together in business for 5 wonderfully successful years.

I feel extremely blessed to do what I love, in a town I love with the people I love most. A truly joyful life!

Artist’s Statement