ABOUT ME

 

I used to think I was a late bloomer. Now I know I was just waiting for the right material.

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I didn't consider myself artistic or creative until my late twenties, when I discovered jewelry making. My mother was the artist in the family — she painted, wrote calligraphy, knitted, crocheted, and had a beautiful singing voice. I couldn't compete with that. The most I could draw were hearts and butterflies.

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Everything changed in 2000, when my mother and I took a jewelry-making class together, back when bead shops were everywhere. I fell in love immediately. I found myself spending hours — and most of my extra money — on beads and the joy of making something beautiful from scratch. A few years later, my mother took a wire crochet class. At first I had no interest at all. But when she came home and showed me her finished piece, something clicked. She taught me how to crochet with wire, and wire crochet became my first love.

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"What if" is the start of most of my projects.

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For more than fifteen years I created original handmade jewelry inspired by bold, abstract, and organic forms, selling my work at jazz and arts festivals across the East Coast — the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, Newport Jazz Festival, Freihofer's, Litchfield Jazz — and through galleries and online. Those years brought me deep joy and meaningful connections.

 

During the global lockdown I began exploring other art forms as a way to calm my nerves and find stillness. I picked up acrylic markers, then polymer clay, then watercolor, collage, and mixed media. I discovered that polymer clay and wire crochet worked beautifully together. It was another period of blooming — and this one changed everything.

 

Today, I think of myself as a creative hummingbird, moving fluidly between wire crochet, watercolor, collage, polymer clay, and mixed media. My practice is rooted in experimentation and curiosity. I am deeply inspired by bell hooks and her idea of art as a practice of freedom. When I create, I am often trying to free myself from constraints, expectations, and the pressure of perfection.

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This philosophy also lives in the community-based creative experiences I facilitate through ArtSnacks with my friend Kamilah — where we invite participants to explore, play, make beautiful mistakes, and reconnect with joy through making. 

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My work — whether through mixed media, jewelry, collage, or collaborative experiences — is ultimately about exploration, transformation, and creating space for myself and others to bloom.

 

Commission:

Stowe Center for Literary Activism — Stowe Prize artwork, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

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Award:

First Place, Gallery 53 Fiber Art Show — Clustered Stillness, 2025

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Public art

Selected installation, City of Hartford electric utility box, 2023

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Publication

Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine — featured contributor

 

Television

Jewelry Television's Jewel School — wire crochet demonstration

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