I am at my happiest when I am making something and making things with fiber feels like home. I’ve been doing this a long time and I have created art in many mediums, but it always seems to come back to fiber. I have denied it many times in my life calling what I do with fabric and fiber “experiments,” but the truth is, I just love the act of making. In the morning I can’t wait to go to my studio and start creating. My current pieces might look like a tedious undertaking to most, but the truth is I love this work. I’m inspired by circles. I’ve been drawing circles for close to twenty years. When I thought I was tired of them and wanted to change direction, I became obsessed with wood grain patterns and then realized it was just another way to look at circles. My passion for circles has given me a way to view typically overlooked everyday objects and see them as something visually more complex and interesting. My circles magnify the complex insides of fruit, vegetables, leaves, eyes or microscopic cellular structures. The simple act of cutting fruit or vegetables has a predictable outcome, but I am able to see circles found in nature and discover beautifully abstracted forms in each piece of fruit or vegetable. I’m guided by my intuition and I love working with pattern on pattern, color and texture. I try to make these little pieces of art irresistible to the touch, because that’s the wonderful result of what you can do with fabric and fiber and stitches.
Education
1991 Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA MFA, Painting
1984 Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA BFA, Fiber
Awards & Honors
2018 3rd Place, 3rd Annual Conroe Art League National Invitational Show, The Gallery at the Madeley Building, Conroe, TX
2017 Jurors Award, Small Works: SDA at 40, SDA Conference Exhibition, Portland, OR
2016 Jurors Award, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
Jurors Award, Abundance, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
Third Place Award, Flowers and Gardens Juried Show, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Best of Show, 5x5x5 Show, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL
Honorable Mention, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
1994 Jurors Award, Galeria Mesa, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
1995 Purchase Award, South West Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
1997, 1986, 1983, 1981, 1980 Central PA Festival of the Arts, Outdoor Banner Exhibit, State College, PA
1982 Ellis Award, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Collection
Reed College, Portland, OR Mass College of Art, Boston, MA Rockefeller Library, Brown University, Providence, RI Sacred Heart Gallery, Sacred Heart College, Hartford, CT Stephan Kogler, Dewey Beach, DE Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, TX Children’s Own School, Winchester, MA Central PA Festival of the Arts, State College, PA
2016 – Present Resident artist of the Fiber Studio at the Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
2004-2015 Created one of a kind knitted, felted, appliquéd and hand sewn purses; sold locally through craft shows
1995 – present Artist/Owner, Magenta Cat Productions, created one of a kind knitted, felted, appliquéd and hand sewn purses; sold locally through craft shows.
1999 Self published coaster sets ‘Box of BEES’, ‘Happy Girl Lucky’, ‘I’nnies and Outies’, ‘Verve’, ‘Hearts a Flutter’ & ‘Wing and a Pear’. Sold in contemporary craft galleries and local craft sales and shows.
1998 – 2005 Self published card sets ‘MOM in a Box’, ‘Primer for a New Mom’, ‘Primer for a New Artist’, ‘Mom in the House’, ‘Finding Mr Right’. Sold in over 100 contemporary craft galleries throughout the US & Canada. Anthropologie stores sold over 10,000 copies of ‘MOM in a BOX’.
1995 – 1997 Created, produced and sold handmade blank journals
2008 – present MARTIAL ARTS – Certified Kettle Bell Instructor, certified Girls on Guard Women’s Self Defense Instructor, local classes & seminars in the Philadelphia Area
Exhibitions
Solo
2017 Trending Threads, interactive fiber art show, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
1998 The Power in my Voice, Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH
1997 New Book/ New Life, “a journal of a wife,” Sol Mednick Gallery of Contemporary Photography, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
A Winter Juried Collection, 3rd Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
77th Annual Members Exhibition, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
2017 small works BIG TALENT, Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
I Spy, Ciel Gallery, Charlotte, NC
Borders, Edges & Seams, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
Small Works: SDA at 40, SDA Conference Exhibition, Portland, OR
Hopelessly Hopeful, Gray Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Women’s Works, Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL
2016 – 2017 Small Works Exhibition, ROY G BIV Gallery for Emerging Artists, Columbus, OH
9th Annual Art About Agriculture, Santa Paula Art Museum, Santa Paula, CA
2016 SQUARES, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Abundance, Studio Channel Islands, Camarillo, CA
Flowers and Gardens, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
5x5x5, Jacksonville State University Mini-Works, Jacksonville, AL
Immersed, Grey Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Simplicity, William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, PA
29th Women’s Work Show, Woodstock, IL
NEW BEGINNINGS, Impasto Gallery, Longmont, CO
Members Group Show, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
2015 Handmade Holidays, Somethings Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
MICROCOSMOS, 621 Gallery, Benicia, CA
TRANSFORMATION, The Art of Recycling, Arts Council/Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC
Entangled, Some Things Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
Telling Stories, GoggleWorks, Reading, PA
Unrestrained, Some Things Looming Gallery, Reading, PA
ReCollection, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
2014 Annual Juried Show, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA
Annual Juried Painting Show, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA
The Road to Here, B-Square Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
ReSourced, Art Fusion, Gallery, Pottstown, PA
2013 MamaCITA Retrospective, Pennsylvania Capital Building, Harrisburg, PA
Represent, with movie screening “MissRepresentation,” Hiway Theatre & Langman Gallery space, Jenkintown, PA
Begin: Hope, Faith, Resilience, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2010 (W)holon, Traveling Exhibition, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA; Walker Fine Arts Center Gallery, Patrick Henry Community College, Martinsville, VA
2009 MamaCITA at Green Lane Commons, Manayunk, PA
2008 MamaCITA at the Fetters Mill Inn, Huntington Valley, PA
2008 – 2009 MamaCITA at MCGOPA, Inquirer Building, King of Prussia, PA
