I am a retired reference and research librarian. Before focusing more fully on creating art, I was a librarian at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga California. Prior to that I was tenured librarian at California State University Fullerton providing library research methods classes in a variety of disciplines, but most specifically to graduate and undergraduate Art students.
I have a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science, and an M.A. in English Literature with an emphasis in 20th century English and American women poets. Though I have no formal education in Art or Art History, I have a passion for learning about art, art movements, and artists. I am entirely self taught in that regard. My specific area of research has been, and continues to be the art and life of the post-impressionist British artist Vanessa Bell. In 2004, I applied for, and was awarded a sabbatical to do research in Britain on Vanessa Bell. The result of that sabbatical and subsequent research was a monograph, Mistress of the Brush and Madonna of Bloomsbury: The Art and Life of Vanessa Bell. The book, a biographical sketch and comprehensive annotated bibliography was published in 2015 by Cecil Woolf Publishers, London. A reference work, it is in the collections of major academic institutions including Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, University of Victoria, and the University of Washington.
I am driven by my curiosity, love of learning, doing research and creating art . Because of my professional life spent in libraries, books, text, and reading are essential elements of my work. I employ color, form, line, space, texture, various materials, and content to create two and three dimensional artist’s books, as well as collage and assemblage objects to communicate and tell a story in a unique way.
My artistic journey is one of 21 included in the book, Beyond 70: The Lives of Creative Women by Stacy Russo. It was published by Nauset Press in February 2023.
Exhibitions:
My work has been included in various exhibitions including:
2024 Sebastapol Center for the Arts international juried exhibition Pulp: Book & Paper Arts
2023 ArtsBenicia juried exhibition Properties of Water, Benicia CA
2023 Sacramento Fine Arts Center Juried Exhibition, A Taste for Art, Carmichael, CA
2023 Ekphrasis Project and Exhibition, Art Gallery at the Orinda Library, Orinda, CA
2023 13th Annual Juried Exhibition: The Art of a Story, Village Theatre and Art Gallery, Danville
2022 Exhibition by 4 Bay Area Artists, Lamorinda Arts Council, Art Gallery Orinda Library, Orinda, CA
2021 Inspired by the Greats, Lamorinda Arts Alliance Juried exhibition, Art Gallery at the Orinda Library, Orinda CA