I’ve been involved in the making of art since 1975. I came into art quite by accident. I started out making clay pots and sculpture after finding 500 pounds of clay and an electric kiln left by the previous tenant of a house I was renting in Los Angeles, California. The sculpture was based on my representation of African historical tales, myths and characters. For the next year or so I was creating art on a daily basis. This had a very profound affect on my life.
I found myself totally engaged in the making of this art. I’d never experienced anything like this. It all seemed very natural and magical all at once. The art just oozed out of me. I had no sense of time or space while making art. I made up my mind during this time that as soon as it was feasible, I would go back to school and study art.
I did go back to school and I received a BA degree in art in 1988, from Cal State Long Beach. I did produce art periodically from 1988 to 2009, but not very consistently. The majority of my energy during this period of time was devoted to raising five children, making sure they all attended and finished college, which they have. In the fall of 2009, I began a Master of Fine Art degree program in figurative painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California, and I received my MFA in the spring of 2014.
Art has played an important part in my life. It has taught me what true passion feels like and has shown me how to observe the world in a different way. Through art I’ve learned of the inter-connectedness of all things and people. Everything we see and create starts as a thought somewhere in the universe. We are all part of one universal consciousness, and through art and creativity that consciousness speaks. I feel privileged to be able to experience the making of art because art is the universal language of our collective soul. It exists everywhere we are and has been expressed in every time, space and culture on the face of the earth. I wish to spend the rest of my life sharing this experience with as many people as I possibly can.
I found myself totally engaged in the making of this art. I’d never experienced anything like this. It all seemed very natural and magical all at once. The art just oozed out of me. I had no sense of time or space while making art. I made up my mind during this time that as soon as it was feasible, I would go back to school and study art.
I did go back to school and I received a BA degree in art in 1988, from Cal State Long Beach. I did produce art periodically from 1988 to 2009, but not very consistently. The majority of my energy during this period of time was devoted to raising five children, making sure they all attended and finished college, which they have. In the fall of 2009, I began a Master of Fine Art degree program in figurative painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California, and I received my MFA in the spring of 2014.
Art has played an important part in my life. It has taught me what true passion feels like and has shown me how to observe the world in a different way. Through art I’ve learned of the inter-connectedness of all things and people. Everything we see and create starts as a thought somewhere in the universe. We are all part of one universal consciousness, and through art and creativity that consciousness speaks. I feel privileged to be able to experience the making of art because art is the universal language of our collective soul. It exists everywhere we are and has been expressed in every time, space and culture on the face of the earth. I wish to spend the rest of my life sharing this experience with as many people as I possibly can.