Bio
My work is conceptual and interpretive. It reflects several art styles including abstract expressionism, German expressionism, Chinese watercolor painting and Japanese ink art. Expressionism focuses on emotions and responses. Japanese suiboku-ga (i.e., sumi-e) and Chinese shui mo hua focus on sublime beauty and elegance.
Each embroidery begins with a freehand sketched doodle. The doodle is my “freewheeling" stage. During this stage, my mind is like an empty box waiting to be filled with abstract images. Once I finish the doodle, I manipulate it until I have the basic design for my embroidery. I then print the design onto a water-soluble stabilizer, then transfer the stabilizer to the background fabric.
I do not choose my color palette when I start. I rely heavily on my knowledge of color theory. Each piece is created using a single strand of DMC six-stranded cotton floss or silk, polyester or rayon thread. I often include other materials to design to make it cohesive, such as clock gears, gold-color cord, beetle elytra, beads, spangles and sequins (e.g., Behemoth). Depending on the complexity and size of the embroidery, it can take as little as eight hours to complete a simple miniature or more than 100 hours for more complex pieces.
Two of my embroidered pieces are reflections on the systematic elimination of Jews in Nazi Germany during World War II. The first one is an abstract interpretation of the November pogrom on Nov. 9-10, 1938, known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). This event marked the beginning of Hitler's Final Solution and the deportation of Eastern European Jews to the Polish extermination camps. A second related embroidered piece is my interpretation of the notorious Block 11 in Auschwitz-Birkenau known as the “death block" where Jews were tortured and murdered. This period in Jewish history came to be known as “Shoah" By the end of the war on Sept. 2, 1946, Hitler's Nazis had killed nearly six-million Jews.
I am currently working on a group of embroideries that are meditative in nature. The pieces are based on my studies of Japanese and Chinese ink and watercolor paintings, respectively.
In 2023, I became an adjudicated member of the Kentucky Crafted Program. I am also a member of the Embroidery Guild of America, I am currently preparing for the March 2024 Kentucky Crafted Market, where I will be displaying my free-motion and hand embroidery. I hold a Bachelor of Arts from Western Illinois University and a Master of Science from University of Nebraska, Lincoln.