Since the beginning of my career, I have created portraits as a way to honor the best parts of humanity. I am a celebrant of what is beautiful in people.  In some form or another, I ask the people whose images I re-imagine: “What is your story? How can I honor your true essence, rather than a passing impression of you?” I am deeply attentive to the details of the person with whom I am co-creating, and it is only by connecting our gifts that transformation occurs.  

 

In my work, the act of listening creates stunning beauty. People have wept while sharing their stories with me and again after seeing the finished work. 

 

I apply watercolor in patient visits. I often utilize other materials to layer into the watercolor portraits. In a nod to my grandmothers, I embroider and embellish these portraits, each stitch echoing a thought that was shared between the person and myself.

 

Often people will share family photos with me, such as in one piece created for the Milwaukee Area Technical College Community Arts project:  I painted a participant as he looks today, surrounded by the warm wood paneling of his childhood home, while a small image of his mother holding him as a toddler anchors the piece. Frequently, it is relationships and connections to others that become most central to the theme of each person’s piece.

 

Sometimes objects close to the person with whom I am co-creating show up in my work as well, as my definition of what constitutes a portrait has broadened. After my father passed away in 2021, I collected pine cone scales from trees he had planted and created collages from those materials.  After his physical form was gone, creating something new from what he left behind felt most aligned with the mystery of loss.