The first half of my story.
I was born in Philadelphia and would paint in our basement doing huge paintings in acrylic or whatever I found lying around. I was not encouraged to paint or go to art school. The Moore College of Art in Philadelphia was a “safe place to go” and I majored in art education. But, painting was in my heart, so I attended The Tyler School of Art taking graduate painting and sculpture courses and doing all sorts of exciting 3-D pieces and boxes with molded shapes and forms.
One of the joys I had before I was married was walking newly plowed fields with my mother in Maryland. I would pick up Indian arrowheads and she would make wonderful collections of these artifacts. She would also draw Indian artifacts for the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. It was at this time that I became interested in Native American art.
I moved to Boston and went to Boston University where I wrote a thesis “An Interdisciplinary unit of Study based on the Iroquois Indians of New York State”. It was while I was writing the thesis that I became close to a Native American in Upper New York State as he was helping me with my theses and my understanding of the Iroquois culture. We communicated for several years and he became a friend.
One of my first shows was at The Kingdom Fine Art Gallery in Boston. I exhibited with a young man named Wombat who was a graffiti artist and he asked me why I was painting silly flowers and landscapes because my work seemed stiff and unemotional. At that time all I painted were realistic images but my heart was not in it. I realized I had to “jump over the edge” and go for it. I had my first show on Martha’s Vineyard at The Featherstone Center for the Arts 13 years ago. Mrs. Virginia Besse encouraged me to do this and for many years she became my mentor. And, as a result, Featherstone has always been a special place for me.
The second half of my story.
The second half of the story is about my struggles and passion to keep going. I had been a competitive A level tennis player for years and in 2000 tore the labrum in my right shoulder. I needed an operation and it was just when I was starting to paint seriously. The surgeon decided to do a novel, but experimental surgery. This surgeon never told me what this new procedure was or how I was to deal with it post-op. After 6 months, I couldn’t lift a cup of coffee and realized something terribly wrong had happened. I learned 5 years later, that this new procedure had killed all the cartilage in my shoulder. The surgeons at this hospital only performed this surgery for 1 year due its’ harmful results. I had 5 more surgeries some within 3 weeks of each other. My shoulder was strapped for weeks and I was only able to sleep in a chair. I never knew the truth about my shoulder until I changed doctors and had a final surgery. There is a much longer, personal story about the hurt from those who were not honest with me and I know I need a shoulder replacement in the future, but it was at this time when I was called by a higher being to paint and use my work as a ministry. When I was strapped, I painted with my left hand. When my shoulder was sore and pain radiated down my arm, I prayed and thanked God for all the blessings I had been given and thought of those in much worse shape than I. I dreamt my work would spread to all parts of the world and in fact in the last 3 years I have been in galleries in Arizona, California and New York. I did an 18-foot mural in Uganda with students there, studied in Italy and my paintings are in South Africa and England. I even did a 45-foot mural on Martha’s Vineyard with my business partner. I now realize that I am on a journey.
My work is my mission and my dream. My paintings now are based on the Native American belief in the living circle or faith circle that encompasses all life. My shapes undulate and create circular patterns and shapes that reflect how the wind blows or the land rises and falls. All these shapes are sections of the circle, the living circle. My story is about how faith can emerge from pain. It is about believing in a higher being and radiating love to all people and my message is that we must preserve and care for nature and respect the balance that exists within the living circle.
