About the Artist
Some of my earliest memories are of playing with my mother’s buttons—feeling their textures, sorting them by size and color, and arranging them into little groupings. I didn’t know it then, but that quiet, tactile curiosity became the starting point for my work as an artist.
That relationship to material continues in my studio practice today. Working with collected and vintage elements, I create pieces that feel intimate and alive.
My studio is where movement, making, and attention come together, and where each work begins its journey.
Early Life & Creative Roots
Even as a young girl, I always knew I would one day become an artist. It’s a rare and beautiful thing to have such a strong sense of purpose so deeply grooved into one’s identity. Growing up, I sketched and painted on every conceivable surface — my happiest moment came around age 12, when my parents allowed me to paint my entire bedroom with a colorful mural of birds and mountains. My friends in high school begged me to sketch little figure drawings into their Chandlers, and I never stopped drawing.
Once at university, I took any internship or work opportunity I could find, relentlessly scouring the job ads tacked to the boards in our placement office at Columbia College. I worked for a vinyl sign shop in Northbrook installing signage, teamed up with designers at the Lyric Opera House creating graphics in Photoshop 3.0, and even accepted commissions for several large-scale murals and public art. Each of these experiences expanded my skills, my confidence, and my understanding of visual storytelling.
Early Career & Professional Growth
My biggest professional moment came in 1998, when I was hired by a start-up in downtown Chicago to create custom web design, hand-coding everything in HTML. I learned on the job, discovering a geeky love for coding and building complex websites for our clients. It was an exhilarating time — we were creating for some of the biggest corporations in the world.
Those years taught me rigor, creativity, and the satisfaction of bringing ideas to life in a structured, technical environment.
But life also had its challenges. In 2001, the dot-com market collapsed, bringing layoffs and uncertainty. That same year, 9/11 shook the world, and my father passed away suddenly from a lung condition. I was to be married exactly one year later, with no job and much uncertainty ahead. It was a time of deep reflection and resilience, one that would shape how I approached my life and my creative work.
Finding My Artistic Path
Throughout it all, art remained my constant. My journey as an artist formally began long before I had the courage to call myself one, yet I always found ways to make, sketch, or design — whether for friends, clients, or in secret in my studio. Over time, my practice evolved into what it is today: creating works from vintage jewelry and reclaimed materials, transforming fragments of the past into pieces that carry life, intimacy, and quiet energy.
My first collectors were my yoga students, who recognized and supported my work from the very beginning. This early community of friends and students helped me grow both confidence and a sense of purpose in sharing my art publicly. Soon, my work began to appear in local gallery shows and juried outdoor festivals. Each exhibition taught me something — about craft, presentation, and most importantly, connection. I deeply value the conversations that happen around the work, the stories people bring, and the shared joy in seeing familiar objects transformed into something new.
Materials & Process
As a Chicago-based artist, I work with a variety of materials — from buttons and beads to driftwood and archival panels — always open to where the materials and their histories take me. My process is intentional and responsive; each piece evolves at its own pace.
Yoga & Creative Life
Today
Today, I continue to create, exhibit, and explore.
Life is rich, and every day is an opportunity to create, move, and belong.
Photo from the 2025 Mother’s Day Group Art Exhibit at Aponte Art Gallery, with my biggest inspiration of all, my mom. She is a fixture at nearly every show I do—helping with sales, connecting with familiar collectors, and simply sharing in the joy of the art show circuit. I am endlessly grateful for her presence and support, and for all the ways she makes my work possible.
Mom is looking forward to her 91st birthday this coming April 2026!
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Contact
I welcome inquiries about artwork, commissions, exhibitions and yoga.
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." Thomas Merton