I was born in Washington, DC. At nine years old, standing in Rock Creek Park, I whispered that I would become an artist. It was both a promise and a survival tool. Growing up in a family where boys were valued more than girls gave me an early understanding of injustice—and my first cause: to affirm the worth of women.

The Beginning

In nature I found my first teachers. Trees and stones offered textures and cycles that became the foundation of my work — a journey from paint to portal. At Brown University and RISD, in Rome and along the Adriatic coast, I discovered how intimately imagination and earth are entwined. Stones I had drawn before appeared in the sea as if the world itself was answering back.

Later, I earned a Master of Science in Communications Design from Pratt Institute, which shaped my teaching and reinforced design as a language of visual communication. Design taught me to think about communication—how form guides attention, creates meaning, and connects people. Those lessons continue to shape my public art as much as my teaching.

The Making

In New York, frottage — rubbing paint against bark and stone — became my method and metaphor. Each work was a collaboration with nature, a record of presence and time. As a long-standing member of WEAD, Ecofeminism gave language to what I had long sensed—that creativity, care, and interdependence are not separate from nature but expressions of it. Sculptures like Nine Months and Affinity arose not as solitary acts but as collective expressions of feminine power.

The Recognition

My work has been recognized through two awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and is included in the permanent collection of the California African American Museum. In 2026, I was honored as a Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Trailblazer, recognizing my contributions to the city's cultural landscape and my ongoing commitment to public art.

After more than three decades of teaching, mentoring, and helping shape new generations of artists, I retired as Professor Emerita from the USC Roski School of Art and Design.

Today, my practice spans intimate studio works and large-scale public commissions. Through sculpture, fiber, drawing, and public art, I continue to explore the geometry of living systems—patterns of emergence, connection, shelter, and transformation—creating works that invite reflection, belonging, and a renewed relationship with the natural world.

The Work Today

Today I see my practice as an ongoing conversation with nature—its structures, rhythms, and quiet intelligence. Whether working in fiber, metal, paper, or public space, I create forms that invite reflection, connection, and wonder. Each sculpture is an offering: a place where geometry becomes organic, strength becomes tenderness, and the invisible patterns that shape our lives become visible.