Visiting my grandfather’s studio was the highlight of my New Jersey childhood. He was a fine artist, as was my Uncle Joe, a noted graphic artist. Watching Grandpa paint filled me with wonder, though I wouldn’t recognize it as inspiration until much later. When he placed a canvas before me and gently encouraged me to pick up a brush, I froze. “What should I make?”  He said, “Paint anything. Do what makes you happy. Start there.”

My first-grade teacher once praised my scissor skills, a compliment I took quite seriously. I began cutting up magazines and arranging the images into stories—or so I thought. It was my first attempt at self-expression. I added captions to enhance these collages, and, enamored with the process, acquired the notion I should write, too. At age six, I became a dilettante.

A high school creative writing class prompted my father to reveal that his cousin, whom I’d never met, was a famous novelist. Artists on my mother’s side, a real author on Dad’s. All that genetic aptitude! Clearly, I had a family legacy to live up to. I would pursue both arts—at some point….

After attending the University of Miami, I moved to New York City and enrolled in The New School’s Writers’ Program, as well as the New York School of Interior Design. A writer needs a day job, after all. I graduated and started an interior design business.

Years later, with two young children in tow, I relocated to Los Angeles—a decision I’ll leave unexamined. Once settled, I enrolled at UCLA Extension, where I continued studying creative writing and took an assortment of self-help courses, which were vital after the recent transition.  My curiosity led me to spiritual studies and consciousness exploration, along with yoga and meditation. I was a graduate student of myself.

I share this background because I can’t offer a roster of prestigious art schools here and abroad. My art education has been decidedly informal. I am self-taught. For years I treated art as a hobby; messing around with acrylics and collage, trying to instill in my daughters a love of the creative process by doing fun projects with them. It was a form of escape—yet, as it turned out, much more than that.

Meanwhile I was working on a novel—a thinly veiled autobiography which morphed into memoir once I overcame fear of writing in first person. A bold encounter, to be sure. I wanted to tell my story—to make art of my life’s experience.

I loved the writing craft, but over the years, while plodding toward imagined literary stardom, the turmoil of the past made the process nerve-racking. I would turn to visual art as respite from the intensity. I came to understand it was another way to express myself. With collage, I could play with images, colors, and textures, change my mind, and let intuition take over. I didn’t have to know what I was trying to say—or how the story would end—before I began. I could just start and see where it led. What a revelation: I could simply enjoy myself!

Collage has an intriguing connection to memoir. Both involve putting the pieces together and finding relationships among them. A memoirist weaves fragments of experience into a narrative; a collage artist assembles images, materials…color…into a composition that may symbolize experience—or whatever theme she chooses. In both, the arrangement matters. Or in my case the rearrangement; it is a pleasure to create a visual reinterpretation of my story.

I enjoy experimenting with new techniques and have recently begun making my own collage papers—pivoting from my voluminous collection of found paper, aka organized chaos. I gravitate toward vibrant color, though sometimes prefer more subtle tones. It depends on my mood.

My work often draws on observations of human behavior, particularly its ironies, and on the experience that accumulates with age. My aim is to amuse and surprise, often through an unexpected detail or twist within the imagery. I delight in seeing someone smile at a piece or hearing it described as unique, clever, or even eccentric. I’ll take it.

I have had several solo exhibitions and participated in juried shows at The Art Center Sarasota and other local venues. My work is held in private collections throughout Florida, as well as in New York City, Chicago, and Glenburnie, Maryland. In 2022, I was invited to be Artist in Residence at Art Ovation Hotel. And recently Arts & Central restaurant selected me as its featured artist for November 2026.

It took years for my artistic nature to fully emerge. Discovering it has been a privilege and a gift. And being recognized as a talented artist is an honor I don’t take for granted.

For me, art is joyful, generous…liberating.

As Grandpa instructed, “Do what makes you happy. Start there.”