Fire Weed

For the past three decades, my focus has revolved around the incorporation of free-floating text as a visual element. Some years ago I was listening to NPR. It was a program about illiteracy. The speaker was pointing out when a litterate person sees text, it is instantaneously translated and a meaning is attached to it but for an illiterate individual it is only shapes. I started thinking about how I could use letters in my artwork so they represented only shapes. Most of my pieces have started with text even when you can not see it any longer. I usually attempt to make it illegible so that the viewer interacts with the shape of the text and not necessarily the meaning. Born in Canton, Ohio, I have always been captivated by the power of nonverbal expression, finding it far more compelling than speaking. After spending my formative years in Ohio, Arizona, and Idaho, I ultimately settled in the Pacific Northwest, where I pursued my artistic aspirations at Cornish College of the Arts, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I resided in Seattle for 17 years before a brief interlude in Florida led me to my current home and studio in Stockholm, Sweden.