Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

Printmaking is at the heart of what I do; drawing on stones, etching into copper, carving into wood, screenprinting etc, but my love of materials extends beyond into my mixed media constructions, encaustic painting, flying automata, drypoints on broken glass, & other interactive installations, animations, shadow play, and multi media presentations. I’m a fan of upcycling found materials that contribute to the visuals seen in my studio “laboratory”. I am a maker of things.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find it everywhere. Daily life, my children, nature, birds, flying things, trees, dreams. My work responds to whatever life throws at me - pain, beauty, sorrow, joy, something hilarious, loss, etc. I then sit down and start to draw, and I just let it surprise me, and trust the process. That’s when I wonder how a fish ended up in a tangle of tree limbs within which an alien bird is cavorting with a puppet wearing a vintage undersea helmet. You just never know what’s going to happen, right?

What would you do with $25,000?

I’d do an artist residency in Chiang Mai, Thailand where I’d hang out with my printy inky friends there to make some etchings. Then, I’d come back to Chicago to collaborate with my band mates and some of my fellow fave artists to produce a multi media art experience/performance and be able to pay them all a good wage for their participation & share the love. I’d purchase a metal stomp shear for my studio (cause I need one), & then I’d share what’s left w/ folks who run community art spaces.