Nice to meet you.

My Work

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I meant to work a low-paying job at Boston Children's Museum temporarily, to soak up the best in informal learning from the legends working and teaching there. I was hired to help create a visual arts program and exhibit amidst the 4-story playhouse of full-body, hands-on learning. I stayed for 12 years, eventually serving as Arts Program Manager. My observations during that time resulted in a published chapter titled, "Handprint Turkeys and Cottonball Snowmen - Is There Hope For An Artful America?" and I began speaking as an advocate for quality creative development during early childhood.  What that means is that I believe very strongly that modern society relies on creative minds to survive "the unprecidented". Climate change, artificial intelligence, and buckling democracy all make for an entirely unpredictable future we need to somehow prepare children for.  How do you equip a workforce for an unimaginable labor market? You arm them with mighty imaginations. How do you provide expertise that will serve in unknown conditions? You make them expert learners, critical thinkers, and problem solvers. 

The great news is: human brains are wired for all of those - the bad news is that we stomp out those very aptitudes during early childhood. More good news, though: it's not rocket science to turn this around and give caretakers and teachers what they need to protect and develop creative capacities... or I wouldn't be able to do it! And I love it. Learn more about my trainings here.

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As a teaching artist, I've delivered my favorite program, SUMINAGASHI, to schools throughout New England. I've also had the honor of being an artist in residence at Kate Furbish Elementary for over 5 years, visiting every Kindergarten classroom three times a year. I share my struggles and growth as an artist, conveying the importance of persistence, flexibility, and "listening to our artist's voice" during the creative process.  Artistic practices of mine that I share include self-portraiture, abstract expressionism, miniatures, and playing with light/darkness and luminescence. This work is supported by the extraordinary organization, Arts Are Elementary.

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Here's a list of things I was able to bring to life during my twelve years with Waterfall Arts, the community art center in Belfast, Maine:

• Four different afterschool art clubs: a drop-in open studio, in-school creativity clubs, and a free, intensive Creative Youth Development program for sixth graders

• Ten differently-themed art camps for kids, from "What A Mess" to "Teensy Tiny Town"

• Private events for Head Start families to explore our gallery and hands-on activities

• An annual art exhibition spanning our galleries, downtown storefronts, and the local library that featured over 300 kids' work.

• Monthly family art workshops

• TO BE CONTINUED

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My Back Story...​

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I'm grateful for the adverse early experiences that took me OFF the "typical" path in high school and onto a road less travelled. Living alone, secretly, during my senior year in high school I benefitted from a mixture of personal resilience and independence and the kindness of community members. I lived with my mentor and drama club director, Kim Golden, after graduating high school, while fundraising to travel in Up With People. I left my small town of Milford, PA to travel the world for all of 1995, with a family of 125 young people from 33 different countries. We stayed in host families in every small town and city, keeping a relentless travel schedule that included community service, cross-cultural training, and performance. My perspective was forever changed to include people and cultures visited and unknown, and a sort-of X Ray vision into the behind-the-scenes dimension of everything from radio ads to the global economy. 

After rambling around the country doing manual labor for a few years, an injury forced me to consider college - I had no money and really no clue about higher ed. Oberlin College offered me financial aid that included a Bonner Scholarship, which offered support for first-generation and low income college kids and an intensive work program with placements in non-profits for all four years. Placements included a training hub for grassroots organizing, the Cleveland Ed Fund, and Boys & Girls Club of Lorain County, where I started an art program. I graduated with a degree in Sociology and enough credits (but not the right ones) for psych major. No regrets. My academic focus was education reform and child development. I had also enjoyed years of performing as a singer with phenomenal rising musicians. I unfortunately didn't have the nerve to lie my way into any studio art classes (you had to be an art major to squeeze in) until my Senior year - big regrets there! 

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In Boston, I enjoyed several years as a singer-songwriter and recording artist until treatment-resistant acid reflux all but destroyed my voice. My identity was very much wrapped up in that world, and performance was the anchor to my mental health; I had to pivot to visual artistry, and after completing the Artists' Way program, I was producing and showing lots of work and taking on all sorts of bucket-list things I thought were impossible. Half way down the list was GOATS. In 2012, I sold my furniture and left Boston to spend a summer on a goat farm in Brooks, Maine. In spite of having completed studio art courses to prepare for a Master's program in Expressive Therapies in that fall, I never returned to Boston. I spent my first Maine winter without running water in a wood-stove-heated cabin. It's been a walk in the park since!

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I currently live in Belfast in a small cottage with my cat, Reginald. I am working on finding my own creative voice after a decade of using up all my ideas and energy on inspiring others!

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