Wow what an amazing Holiday season 2019 brought!  2020 is bringing me some much needed studio time to work on new work for ACC Baltimore this February. I've been craving time to think and work and play! If you remember my paintings you wil see a similarlty between my new fiber work and my paintings from yesteryear! I've brought in color. using  my feehand machine stitching to a new level of artistry and my knowledge of color theory to add color and life to my birds. I've added the figure to find a resting place to the dialoge.  Below are my new works followed my latest artist statment. 

I am inspired by endangered, forgotten and ignored birds and plants . I am frightened by our current anthropocene environment and by those that deny the human impact on our environment. I am a fiber artist, who uses freehand machine and hand embroidery with appliqué techniques on found, vintage and utility fabrics, such as toile, barkcloth and duck canvas. I use the stitch line to draw each mark, value and detail by manipulating the fabric under the moving needle or by stitching completely by hand . I use this more labor intensive method as a dedication to my subjects as well as this traditional craft. As a female I am very aware of the history of hand embroidery and its connection to female’s roles and work duties. There is something very magical about the stitched line and its beauty for creating realistic renderings. The birds I stitch speak to me with an emotional personification reminiscent of a family member or an ancestor's portrait. The plants I pick are typically considered weeds but have edible and pollinator value. I began to incorporate the figure to be a complement, not an enemy, of the dialogue between bird and plant and place. My most recent pieces are very busy with pattern backgrounds and layered stitching that present a resting place along with interaction. In contrast to these works are my other series that isolate each bird or plant in its own abandoned world. These birds are machine stitched freehand in either black lined renderings or color thread paintings. When I hang them together they become an imaginary genealogy. The last two pieces of my application show two recent hand embroidered birds that are part of my series : “Hanging Them Out To Dry,” a planned installation of vintage napkins hanging on a clothesline . Each napkin has a hand embroidered bird that has the potential of becoming extinct if we continue to harm our environment.