About Artist

I have always loved Japanese art, perhaps because I was born in Japan. I lived there as a child because my parents were posted to Japan after the war. Many years later I find myself formatting my western style paintings as scrolls. As a teenager I went to the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC. It was a wonderful, vibrant school and the exposure to the art programs greatly influenced me. I decided during that time that the only meaningful way of living my life was to become an artist.
My family moved out west to Tucson, Arizona. I went to the University of Arizona and received a degree in fine arts, later working for the Tucson Museum of Art as an art instructor. I still love to Sonoran desert and visit it often.

I decided I wanted to live in San Francisco for its beauty, culture, and city life. I found a group of other artists in the city though a life drawing group. All of us were working at odd jobs, usually in some form of construction. We formed a community of artists and often put on group art shows. I met my husband Dave through this group and we are still together after 30 years. Living in the city was a wonderful and difficult growing experience and energized my art. My painting of the Costume Party was a summation of this episode in my life.

Dave and I decided to move north to the countryside of Santa Rosa once we had children. We built our house ourselves and kept the largest area as a studio. Working on my paintings can be isolating, but raising our daughter and son here connected me much more to my community. When I wasn't painting I started volunteering in the schools as an art teacher. I did this for many years, sometimes providing materials myself. We created self portraits and mural projects.

I also started painting landscapes when I moved to Sonoma County. I live in an area of landscapes with distant views of the mountains. I have spent years learning about light, color and creating the effect of far distance.
My art has been described by others as surreal realism. My paintings are realistic in that they are a study of the effect of light and structure in landscapes or the figure. They follow the logic of realistic art, but there is always a dreamlike quality to the places and events. There is a balance between an external realism and an internal or felt process. My art moves back and forth between reality and a dream when it is successful. It is sometimes difficult to turn off our intellect and attain a state of outer tranquility and inner stability. At moments of extraordinary clarity, when we are not distracted, one's perceptions become part of one's self. I am always striving for this "passage of felt life".

I have been holding a figure drawing group in my studio and as a result I have been drawing as much as I paint. Sometimes the model will assume a pose which remind me of an archetypal figure. I later will turn these poses into large, finished drawings. There is usually an implied narrative which results in the process. I have also been drawing and painting portraits by commission. Drawing on a regular basis is now essential to my art. I am currently a member of the Phantom Gallery located in downtown Santa Rosa.


Education

• 1997-98 Santa Rosa Junior College, Figurative Drawing & Adobe Photoshop
• 1984-85 U.C. Extension (Berkeley), San Francisco, Photography
• 1974 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, Painting
• 1973 University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, B.F.A.
• 1971-2 Los Angeles Art Center, L.A., California
• 1967 Corcoran School of Art, Corcoran Museum, Washington, D.C.

Solo Shows

• 2006 CPS Sonoma West, Graton, California
• 2003 Art in the Napa Library, Napa, California
• 1995 Whistlestop Gallery, Santa Rosa, California
• 1993 Mural "Scenes from the Wine Country", Santa Rosa, California
• 1993 John Frances Studio, San Francisco, California
• 1976 Albuquerque Art Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Group Exhibits

• 2009 "Painting Large", Dominican College, San Rafael, California
• 2009 "The American Landscape", Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, California
• 2009 " Spring Obsession- Open Division", Merit Award, Ironstone Vineyards, Murphys, California2009 "
• Au Natural: The Nude in the 21st Century", Clatsop Community College, Astoria, Oregon
• 2008 " Works on Paper", Best of Show, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California
• 2006 "Sacred Woman Exhibition", Art Harvest, Sacramento, California
• 2004 "Heart to Heart", Indian Valley Artists, Marin, California
• 2004 "Celebrating the Goddess", Joan Hanley Gallery, La Veta, Colorado
• 2002 "Gardens and Botanicals" , Plaza Arts, Healdsburg, California
• 2002 "The American Landscape", honorable mention, Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, California
• 1998 "Landscape", Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California
• 1983 Bay Area Annual, Burlingame, California
• 1983 San Francisco Artist Invitational, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
• 1982 Marin County Annual, Community Center, San Rafael, California
• 1982 Bay Area Annual, Burlingame, California
• 1982 Santa Rosa Artists Competition, 1st place, Santa Rosa, California
• 1978 Eight Woman Artists, Marina View Gallery, San Francisco, California
• 1977 Woman Painters, Fredrick Street Gallery, San Francisco, California
• 1976 Staff Show, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
• 1975 Staff Show, Albuquerque Art Center, New Mexico

Teaching

• 1975 Albuquerque Art Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• 1976-77 Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
• 1985-2002 Santa Rosa Public Schools, Arts program volunteer
• 2002-03 Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol
• 2004 to present Landscape painting in my studio, Santa Rosa