Born in the Midwest, somewhere very, very cold, I moved to Southern California in 2002 and discovered that when you live in sun and warmth all year long, you are very, very happy. A former Corporate Skirt (after 14 sometimes-exciting, sometimes-fun, sometimes-boring years) I was suddenly so over it. I now spend my days pro-actively unemployed, happily doing my own thing, committed to creativity, and lovin’ every minute of it. I’m a volunteer (anything to do with animals and/or conservation work makes me happy), I’m a writer (there, I said it out loud), and I’m an artist (marbling is my main thing but I also love bookbinding and collage). When it comes to music, I can take it or leave it but the idea of being bookless freaks me out. My husband, for whom I enjoy making delicious meals and with whom I love to travel, is a constant source of adventure and happiness. Oh yeah, and I have a cat (what childfree woman doesn’t?). She’s a rescue. And deaf. All white. All fuzzy soft. All loving. Just like me. (I’ll let you figure out for yourself if I’m referring to all or some of that.)

How I Discovered Marbling

I get asked a lot how I got into marbling. I mean, let’s face it, it’s not exactly an art form permeating the depths of American culture (or most other cultures). The truth is it was dumb luck. While on a girls’ weekend getaway in 2008, I stumbled upon a special marbling exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico featuring 21 artists from 14 countries. I was somewhat familiar with marbling as endpapers in old books but to see marbling as a fine art, up on the wall, in frames, and, as I would come to understand later, pushing the boundaries of the medium, well, that piqued my interest. The next day, fate would once again intervene and I would accidentally come across a marbling demonstration by the curator of that special exhibit, Tom Leech. And that was the moment marbling stole my heart. Watching him, I was immediately drawn to the process of floating paint on water, the way the paint spreads but never mixes so you are always working with the pureness of color, and the immediacy and permanency of capturing an image when placing paper on water. I returned to Santa Fe a few months later to take my first marbling class from Tom.

And I’ve been marbling every day since.

It’s About Discovery, Not a Statement

I’m not a big fan of artist statements for a variety of reasons but mostly because my arc as a marbling artist has been vast and fast. I don’t stick too closely to one “style” of marbling. I’m all about exploration ~ transforming my traditional marbling skills and use of traditional materials into new contemporary directions. All of my individual and series work builds upon discovery. When I step into my studio, I step into a world, and mindset, of wonder and awe.

Modern Day Rorschach Test

Whether I’m working with an interior designer on creating a special piece for a room or marbling fabric to make one-of-a-kind fashion accessories or exhibiting at a gallery, there is one thing I love most: hearing what they “see” in one of my pieces or how it makes them feel or what it reminds them of. My marbled work is always evocative, stoking the flames of memory and emotion.