Creative Becoming:
What are your earliest experiences with creativity and the arts? Mine were actually with music! I began to play the flute at age nine and excelled rather quickly. I soon discovered it was a way to feel alive and strong, and a medium through which I could express my sensitive self. It was a relief and a gift to be able to play in musical groups where sensitivity and emotion were encouraged and valued. The musical opportunities that unfolded allowed me to connect with kindred creative souls to make music together and form meaningful relationships. This pursuit brought culturally and spiritually rich experiences like playing at Carnegie Hall, participating in a life-changing concert tour in Poland, and studying at Tanglewood (the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra). I graduated with degrees in Flute Performance and Music Education from both Rutgers University-Mason Gross School of the Arts and the Boston Conservatory with a focus on putting myself in a position to give back and share the joy of music with youngsters. I taught K-12 public school music over a span of ten years, in both the Greater Boston area and in my current home state of Maine.
A Turning Point:
After a serious car accident in 1996, I began to explore the visual realm of the arts, first with simple charcoal drawings, then with abstract painting, which I further embraced while struggling and healing through sad years of experiencing multiple miscarriages. I dabbled in collage and found-object assemblage, and ultimately found my niche in photography and digital art.
Finding that Creative Niche:
I connected with the art of photography in 2003, when our son was born -- of course he was the best subject matter and he immediately sparked a deep, inherent love of photography in me that has been growing and evolving ever since. I started shooting with a Canon digital SLR and I fell in love with my various lenses and the creative power of Photoshop. I developed a love for portrait and macro-nature DSLR photography. The privilege of photographing that spark of soul in someone's eyes is magical and elating, stunning and heartbreaking. Raw and real. When I photograph flora with my macro lens, going inside a bloom is an adventure, where I get to observe and linger on fine details I could not see with my naked eye.
I have a passion for iPhoneography and use this medium to create still life, portrait, and landscape photos that have an otherworldly aesthetic about them. My mobile photography has traveled all over the world, to shows in Paris, London, Rome, New York City, Prague, Budapest, throughout New England, and Hollywood, and many times I have wished to jump in the box and accompany my art to these cities overseas. There will be a time for more travel, after putting our kids through college. ;-).
Heart Intentions:
I honor my calling to share my work and what I have learned, and am grateful for the opportunities to play a small part in the creative and spiritual becomings of individuals. It is my belief that if more and more people living on this planet are in touch with themselves and making things, there will be more joy, greater peace, meaningful human connection, and less destructive behavior. It is harder to destroy when in touch with creative spirit.
Warmest thanks to you for visiting my little home in the virtual world. I hope that it has inspired you in some way to explore your own amazing, limitless, and unique well of creativity!
