artist statement

I'm interested in articulating the invisible. I create intimate, mixed-media sculpture using seed beads and embroidery; in combination with rusted metal from the streets of NYC and everyday materials like diapers and panties; blurring the distinctions between fine art and craft.FIn my Urban Artifacts series, using the found, rusted metal is philosophically and spiritually important to me: to reclaim the discarded moment, while emphasizing the aesthetic of imperfect beauty - empowers. Also, I emphasize the process of my art making. For instance, by deconstructing bead weaving, so the tool of the loom becomes the art, the forgotten means are equal to the ends.

I was born a seer with Second Sight and most of my art literally begins from these Visions. I have given over 10,000 readings: from rock stars to janitors. This spiritual component strongly influences my art and process.

Another series, My Vision Boxes are 6Ó x 6Ó x 6Ó plexiglas boxes filled with found metal and long hand-beaded bands, arranged to tell a symbolic story. The stories are derived from the Visions I see during my readings.

The Boxes and Urban Artifacts exist as prayers and requests for blessings; art as ritualized spiritual objects.

Occasionally, I incorporate hand woven cloth into my installations. I hand weave cloth on a 16 harness loom, in my Brooklyn studio and embellish it through traditional "women's work" techniques of beading and embroidery. I like using the intimate domestic arts of women while applying them in a public way and on unusual surfaces.

Through this process of repetitive, rhythmic stitching, I practice a modern art meditation, while cultivating a merger of spirit and form.