My eyes speak to the Art of life as an experience through which the constructive form of assemblage thought and the collage fragments of dreams are intertwined. From this perspective, I am inspired by, stories of people, experiences of places and the mysteries of nature as a mirror to explore my own life. I developed my skills by looking at the worn texture of an object and how it tells its history. Throughout my life, I've been in search of places where my creative spirit and the day to day practice of life could coexist. In this pursuit, I've embraced my "nomadism" as a way of seeing, living and creating. In the process, I've conjured up images despite having challenges with altered eyesight, bringing my artistic vision into a heightened level of creative intuition.

My aesthetic was shaped by experiences early in life as a child born abroad of African American parents in the 50's, the sixth of nine children in Germany. I developed a global perspective of the world and understanding of my role as an outsider. Creative expression became my first language and by completing high school at 15 as an emancipated minor, I began living on my own in New York in the 70's at Pratt Institute. My departure from the traditional figurative work occurred when I moved west to California. Living in the Haight-Ashbury changed the way I practiced creativity in all aspects of life. I returned to school entering the University of California at Berkeley to complete my degree only after my diagnosis of a deteriorating eye condition which altered my eyesight but not my artistic vision. In 1991, I graduated with a Phi Beta Kappa honor in the Practice of Art. My first trip to Southern California by friends in the film industry, invited me to their hame in Venice California, I was intrigued by its history and the environment, in addition I visited the Watts Towers and Leimert Park, all of which has inspired me to consider LA along my continuing journey. Since moving to Los Angeles in 1996, I've received the California Community Foundation Grant and the Finding Family Stories Grant, many commissions and several museum acquistions and my artwork was featured on the cover of an annual International Assemblage Competition Catalog from Berlin. Life at St. Elmo Village, transformed my nomadic dream installations into habitats, since then my work which has grown to a scale that I can conceive of inhabiting, now as an artist in residence across from the Watts Towers the process has begun hence the "Nomad", is my next journey.

Like an urban archeologist in search of answers to the mysteries of life, I find my materials by scavenging the streets and flea markets for things that many would consider "trash". From poetry to politics, I collage layers of text and old photographs onto the surfaces of weathered wood and metal, glass or plastic, constructing components into architectural forms as extensions of the figure. These elements are intertwined to give these structures an organic narrative iconography. As I see it, I've created a form of language, which evokes a dialogue inviting a response to call upon the viewers own storytelling and thus, expand the vocabulary of our collective "mother tongues", to visually speak to the Art of Living, where ever that may be.