Artist and educator
Working in a variety of media I am most drawn to fibers. Fibers have a dual identity as a material that is both malleable, and yet strong enough to hold forms. I am inspired by women’s historical needlework, papermaking with plant materials, and carrying on a family tradition of constructing with fabric and thread.
My maternal grandfather grew up watching his parents run a tailor shop in Pruzana, Poland. After surviving Auschwitz I concentration camp he met my grandmother who had survived Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp. They married and had their first child in a displaced persons camp in Feldafing, Germany. He and his new family immigrated to New York, and finally Philadelphia. Like his parents my grandfather supported the family working as a tailor. He refused to teach my mother how to sew because he wanted to save her from the hard, manual work of being a tailor. I remember sitting on a stool in my grandfather’s dimly lit, basement workspace. He would not teach me how to sew either, but let me play with collections of vintage buttons.
I attended the Pennsylvania State University where I double majored in Integrative Arts and English, and minored in Anthropology. In 2011 I began teaching Art at Germantown Academy and earned my Masters of Education with a Focus in Art Education in 2017. Throughout my post-graduate years I have continued teaching, taking studio art and education courses in the Philadelphia area, and developing my own art practice.
My recent work centers around natural landscapes of Ireland, Iceland, and the American Southwest. I play with layers of colors and textures by painting, felting, and embroidering. Sometimes I work small and slowly using traditional hand embroidery techniques. At other times I work big and more quickly painting in oils, assembling with mixed media, and experimenting with machine embroidery. After I return from a trip I sift through pictures. I look for inspiration in the connections between colors, shapes, and textures just like a girl organizing her collection of buttons.