Current and Recent Exhibitions

McClellan Calvary Saddle - detail

(Left) Western Saddle - Tucson Style and detail (below)
Cone 6 fired stoneware clay
20 "L x 15"W x 13"H

Western Saddle - detail

Arizona Valentine
Phoenix Airport Museum - Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport
Phoenix, AZ
November 12, 2011 - June 3, 2012

Artist Statement About This Piece:

I was sixteen when I decided I was going to move to Arizona. Just a small town farm girl from rural Wisconsin, the intrigue of the southwest captivated me. Throughout my childhood, I watched countless western movies and television shows. Rawhide, The Virginian, High Chaparral, F Troop, Maverick — the list goes on and on. I felt I would fit right in. We raised dairy and beef cattle, I could handle a gun. I had a horse my entire life, and I didn't particularly enjoy six months of winter.

Arizona was such a mystery, so unique. Mountains, deserts, gorgeous sunsets, different climates, strange creatures like javelinas, rattlesnakes, roadrunners and quail with odd little curved topknots. There were scorpions, lizards, bobcats, coyotes and gila monsters! Not to mention cacti in every conceivable size, shape and armament. I already possessed a great appreciation of nature, and I looked forward to living in such a foreign environment.

It was the perfect plan. After I graduated I would drive to Tucson, work for a year to achieve residency, major in Art Education at the University of Arizona, get a job as an art teacher, and become a professional artist.

So, in December of 1973, I packed my belongings and life savings of $300 into a junker 1964 Volkswagon Beetle. It took me seven days and one case of oil to complete the 2000 mile journey. The car broke two days later, but I made it. I did not have a place to stay, nor a job lined up, and I did not know a soul in Tucson.

Nearly forty years later, I remain in Tucson. Of course I was befriended by a ton of generous and helpful people along the way. I have shared my knowledge and taught art to ages 5 through 85, and have shown my work professionally since 1990. As I reflect back, it seems things workd out as if by some grand design.

I purchased the printer's drawer for this piece a few years ago at a neighbor's yard sale. Someday I knew I would create a worthy use for it.

Arizona Called To Me gave me the opportunity to express some of the various reasons I fell in love with our state so long ago. The state's history, cultural influences, geography, geology, plants, wildlife and unique features ar depicted in the hand made clay tiles created to fit into the different compartments of the type-set drawer.

I invite the viewer to look closely, see the contrast of textures, shape and colors. Looking carefully with your eyes as well as your heart, you can feel the richness, diversity and love that could draw a young girl here from so far away and keep her here so long.

Arizona Called to Me
2-D clay/wood bas-relief wall hanging
32" high x 18" wide x 2" deep
16lbs

This piece is an assemblage of 89 handmade clay tiles embellished with colored slips, stains, oxides, glazes and enamels that are adhered into the varied compartments of an antique printer's drawer. The drawer was manufactured by the Hamilton Company between 1900-1940 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Laughing Matters: Arizona Humor
Tohono Chul Park Exhibit Hall
Tucson, AZ
January 15 - March 8, 2009

See the Article on Laughing Matters: Arizona Humor Exhibit
in the Explorer Newspaper

Snowbirds
Approximately 12" long x 4" wide x 7" high
Stoneware clay, acrylics

Here in the winter – anywhere else in the summer. Smart birds.

Depressed Market
Multiple pieces, each approximately 5" long x 5" wide x 7" high
Stoneware clay, stains and glazes

This ground squirrel piece reflects the current situation in our area neighborhoods.
The wording on the signs comes directly from current newspaper ads.

Endangered Pygmy Owls / Dangerous Pygmy Owls
Each approximately 4" long x 4" wide x 6" high
Stoneware clay, stains and glazes

I came up with this design during the controversy between habitat and development. If pygmy owls are considered dangerous to our growth and expansion, then they should be portrayed ready for combat. Armed/Unarmed.

P.S. Growth won.

Arizona Suns
9" and 14" diameter
Stoneware clay, acrylics

Our sunshine is not the same as sunshine anywhere else in the country. As an avid gardener, I know that any plant requirement that says "full sun" does not mean OUR full sun. One of my favorite sayings is "Never underestimate the Arizona sun". It is so intense here that even the sun has to wear shades.

Javelini
10" long x 8" wide x 14" high
Stoneware clay, stains and glazes

You have heard of the Appletini and Tangerini, I'm sure, but only in Oro Valley can you find the Javelini: one part vodka, a whisker of vermouth, and one javelina. Our neighborhood herd is a discriminating bunch. They enjoy the roots of the most expensive ccti specimens and bed down in the most pristine spots in the yard. They are, of course, my favorite animal.

Secrets of the Nocturnal
Multiple pieces, Stoneware clay, stains and glazes

By nature, rabbits and javelinas are active both day and night. I have often mused they they can stay up all hours the same way humans do by drinking coffee.
I particularly enjoyed creating the puffy little bags under their eyes.

Our Lady of Javelupe
7" long x 4" wide x 12" high
Mixed Media

A new twist on the "Our Lady of Guadalupe" shrine. My original clay relief tile, hand-cast in resin and painted with acrylics. The piece is enshrined in a tin wall hanging.

Flights of Fancy
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Fish Stories
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Sand Trout
High-fired stoneware clay

Homeless in Oro Valley
High Fired stoneware clay, Multiple Pieces
Assembles to 33"L x 14"W x 12"H
Two Javelinas, two pygmy owls, one desert cottontail

I've watched hundreds of acres near my home go from natural desert to tract housing, and have seen the animals displaced. Uncontrolled expansion with little or no set-aside land has decimated wildlife habitats, leaving creatures large and small, as I have portrayed them –"homeless".

Details (below)

Desert Rattlesnake
High-fired stoneware clay, 12"L x 13"W x 9"H

Most of the snakes on my property have been gopher or king snakes. I have seen rattlesnakes on a number of occasions, and let them go about their business.

Theft of the Quail Block
High-fired stoneware clay enhanced with stains and oxides. Six piece grouping interactive. 48"L x 18"W x 16"H. Set:   $1200

Quail blocks (compressed seed/ground grains) feed more than quails and other birds. Javelinas, squirrels, mice, and especially rabbits love to chew on them. On a daily basis, I watch the rabbits "work" the blocks. They push, gnaw, scratch, do anything they can do to get some of that seed. This observation inspired me to create this piece. If they ever figured out how to work as a team, this fantasy would become reality!