Artist Statement

I like to think of my work as trying to capture the emotional and spiritual landscape. I am not as interested in what is literally there as much as what is felt through water, earth, atmosphere, and sky. These are my visual attempts at translating our shared human story through the metaphor of nature while also giving a glimpse into the "more" that is embedded there.

Bio

I was born and raised as an MK on the islands of the Philippines. To me, that is home. Although I have lived over half my life in America now. I grew up in a very lush, green landscape, under the shadow of an active volcano. When I turned 10, we moved to the city of Manila. All through this world there was such a striking difference between the beauty of the place and the lives that lived so much harder than my own. The Filipino people taught me such resilience and kindness. I was deeply affected by this and feel I have been very blessed to grow up among such people.

I came for college at the age of 19 to big Dallas. I went through a very rough time adjusting to the States and to a private college (nothing against this college. I was just very unlike the normal American student). I found I was always different no matter where I lived. In the Philippines I was the white girl; in America I was not really American inside. And, of course, there was the fact that I was an artist and a Christian. It seems I have been called to sit between places my whole life. Many years later I have realized that my own work reflects this tension. The beauty of this world with the suffering, the light and the darkness, the glory and the earthly.

After college I married a mathematician (yes! But it works!). We have three precious girls (all teenagers now).

I paint landscapes using very thin glazes of oils. I love trees, light, mist and water and the mystery that comes with the unfolding of the landscape. I have had the privilege of doing three art residencies at the National Parks (each a month long) with the National Parks Arts Foundation (and the National Endowment of the Arts grant) Big Bend National Park, Gettysburg National Military Park, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I’m currently with Waterfall Mansion and Gallery in New York, J. Peeler Howell Gallery in Ft. Worth, and Joseph Gierek Fine Art in Tulsa. 

My favorite artists are George Inness, Georgia O'Keeffe and JMW Turner. They seem to ride between the traditional and the contemporary, the mystical and the physical, the seen and the deeper things that are unseen. As a mentor of mine once said, "It is landscape, but it is more than landscape."