I believe that my work communicates on many different levels. I am making a statement on nature and on the structures it utilizes to become stronger and to survive. Look at a compound leaf, the eye of a fly, or the tentacles of a jellyfish and you find multiple forms that work together towards one achievement - survival. Survival is life's most basic instinct and I am interested in exploring how it is achieved.

I am also very interested in women's creative work from the past. Traditionally, most craftwork has an element of repetition to it, such as quilting, needlepoint, knitting, weaving and so on. This duplication of elements is intrinsic to the structure of the entire object and it is this use of multiples to create a cohesive whole that interests me.

I first became interested in three-dimensional form when I spent a semester in Florence, Italy through Syracuse University in 1980. Upon my return, I spent two years in the sculpture department at Syracuse and then worked at a foundry, Johnson Atelier in Trenton, NJ, for seven years. While there, I learned to weld and metal chase, among many other things.

My work has followed a logical (I hope!) path of art history that I believe every artist makes for him or herself. One naturally starts with figurative and realistic work and then concentrates on techniques and skills. Once I was home from Italy and immersed in the creative and electrifying atmosphere of Syracuse, I began to explore the abstract.

The two photos of my work at that time show the divergent paths I was pursuing! The first photo is "Untitled", a combination of wood and bronze. I worked wax sheets around the wood and cast them - very organic. The second photo is "Ode to the Egg" which was a one-time installation, obviously alluding to birth.

After Syracuse, with a full-time job at the foundry, my momentum for creating work slowed considerably, but I managed to make several large pieces between 1983 and 1986. I pursued working with mixed media, combining as many materials as I could.
I made "Demetera" first, with its pod-like forms. (I had started making the pod-like forms in college and still use them today.) The second, "Euterpe", is a real conglomeration of materials. I have always enjoyed the dancing, tilted gait of this piece.

In 1987 I began to experiment with polyester resin. I was drawn to it because of its transparency. I spent several years casting resin box forms in molds made of cardboard boxes with plaster inside. I then used different materials (bronze rod, steel, wood, and others) to provide the support structure to hold the boxes together. Sometimes I used the inside of the resin box form (as in the Tall Resin Column) and sometimes the outside (as in Occulum I).

In 1995, after leaving the foundry, Harry built me a small but very functional studio on the hill behind our house. The first piece I made was "Lancomb", which was very similar to the resin, but the change of materials dictated a change in form. I began to experiment with the wire and paper, returning to the pod forms. "Stratae I" became the next piece, followed by "Stratae II" (I split the pods open) and "Torre" (elongated the pods).

At this point I "stepped back" a bit and decided I wanted a different approach with the wire. In "Paesan" I used it on the outside of the forms. This sculpture is also different from the others because it is freestanding, which is something I had not done since the resin series.

My latest sculpture is "Bedizen". Again, I have changed the wire (brass, silver-soldered, not bent), which changes the form. In this, piece, I took the pod form and "cubed" it (simplified the curves into flat planes).

People ask where I get my ideas. With my work, I build on the previous piece, deciding what I like about it and what I'd like to experiment with to change it. This may be as simple as changing the color or length of the forms. It is a change of material that results in the most dramatic changes.

Sometimes I will catch a glimpse of something, and see it as an abstract form. For instance, I was watching a movie in which Danny DeVito was sitting at a desk with elaborate curtains in the background. I didn't see curtains, but beautiful abstract forms. This may start a whole new series!