This is My Story

MY STORY starts in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and I lived above a butcher shop. My parents had their meat and fish market business in our basement, working hard to make sure they could send their three children to college. And bless them, they did.

 

I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boston University (Boston, MA) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art (Bloomfield Hills, MI), both with a concentration in sculpture.

 

After graduate school, I was faced with the familiar question: WHAT NEXT? To be honest, as much as I loved making art, I felt lonely and isolated in the studio. I longed to jump into a bigger world and learn more about business and working with others. And to be even more honest, I also needed to make a living and, like many artists, couldn’t fathom how to accomplish that as a working artist.

 

So, I went looking for a company that would hire someone with no business skills and was hired as a receptionist in a real estate company! That led to a promotion, then another. Each job that followed brought with it more responsibility, until my longest gig: corporate director of communications of an international hotel company.

 

Can I tell you something? I enjoyed every minute of my business career – and YES, I took my art education and talent with me. Besides using the art school principles of creativity, commitment, hard work, and continuity in my jobs, I actually created presentations, websites, brochures, fact sheets -- you name it.  On my time off, I was drawing, making collage, and taking photos.  And, by traveling the world for the hotel company, I was enriched artistically beyond measure.

 

When I could afford it, I closed this chapter of my life and jumped back into my creative journey making art. It was a joyous reunion. What you see on this website is testimony to that. Making art is what I was meant to do – and the years along the way prepared me for this time.

 

Every day, before I start in the studio, I stop and silently express my gratitude for this gift and the privilege to share my work with you.