I grew up in California and attended:The Art School–a KE-12 school affiliated with the California College of Arts and Crafts. After graduating from California State University at Sonoma, I worked in video and post-production for the U.S. Gymnastics Federation. In 1996 I returned to coaching gymnastics while at the same time rekindling my interest and talent in mixed media art. This decision to return to creating was the start of a wonderful and rewarding journey for me, and it continues to offer up serendipitous bends along the way.

I’ve been creating art dolls since 2003 when I took a cloth dollmaking class with Akira Blount. Akira taught me how to sew using a machine–and more importantly how to make patterns from my own ideas. She was a great inspiration to me. I fell in love with the process and spiritual nature of dollmaking and have been creating my own figurative beings ever since. Shortly after Akira’s class, I took a class with Ankie Daanan and Marlaine Verhelst. There I learned how to use clay to sculpt the head, hands and feet of a doll from scratch and how to use wire in the body for stability.

I’ve combined techniques from both classroom experiences to develop my own style of doll artistry using both clay and cloth. All my dolls begin with an inkling of the doll’s personality and body position to further project the characteristics in mind. I’m often inspired by the feathers and fabrics piled up in my studio. And sometimes-since I work on the head first- it’s the expression I sculpted in the face that leads me to develop the distinct personality.

Creating my dolls is a consecutive process for me, each phase contributing to my initial character concept. I continue to build upon my original intent until the doll becomes a rich, full spirit harboring both physical and emotional layers.

I use a combination of the following materials in my figurative art characters: air dry clay, cloth, wire, ribbon, hand stitched beading, feathers, seashells and other natural materials. Each one is one-of-a-kind hand sculpted-using no molds or patterns and bears my signature.

Since the birth of my two daughters I’ve expanded my repertoire of creations to embrace a line of unique children’s clothing, hand-painted furniture and one-of-a-kind hand painted children’s art-toys that can also be transformed into ornaments! With two active little ones, I found I needed to create some pieces that aren’t quite as demanding on my schedule as doll art.

I reside in a rambling 1930’s home in Connecticut with my educator-husband Rob and our two adorable, active little girls-who sometimes model pieces from my clothing line, plus two not-so-active cats.