I've been creating since I was a child. My days were spent taking cardboard and scotch tape and turning them into everything from shoes to guitars.  Luckily, I was surrounded by a family that encouraged my love to create something out of nothing.  I feel like I've been preparing my whole life for the style of art I make today.

Oh sure, I've got a degree in Art, painted murals in schools, churches, and even Alzheimer units.  I've taught painting classes, worked with autistic children, and thrown a little pottery in my day.  But I always seem to come back to working with recycled materials.  The art I create is primarily made of recycled paper and recycled denim.  The process of taking a picture in a magazine and turning it into something totally different, or taking an old pair of jeans and turning it into a portrait just seems to be such a satisfying result.

I want you to think for a minute about the fact that the materials I use are recycled.  The artwork has a story behind it just for the mere fact that the denim used in the project once belonged to someone.  It was part of their life.  It was worn during the happiest and saddest days of their lives.  The fabric was faded and torn by someone's actions or lack of it.  In the Kurt Vonnegut piece, their is a worn spot on the lower middle.  I was running low on fabric for one of the colors of denim when I realized that someone had taken time to sew patches on the jeans.  I thought to myself, why not use what's underneath.  When I removed what was behind the patches, there was a thread bare hole in the knee.  It brought a whole new emotion behind using someone's old discarded clothing. Someone could have sewn those patches on because of lack of money to buy new.  Someone could have sewn the patches on because they loved those jeans so much.  Someone tore the hole in the knee while playing in the yard with the kids.  I may never know the stories behind the materials I use, but it's a heavy emotional feeling to know that these peoples lives affected the art I make and the way it may affect you emotionally now that you think about it.

I love what I do.  I thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you can find joy in my work.