ARTIST STATEMENT
While growing up in Pelham, New York my mother was an artist and gourmet chef. My father was a famous writer and television producer. Just one of his credits is that he was the head writer for Johnny Carson for five years and, man, my father was FUNNY!
Our home was filled with arts and crafts everywhere.The garage was a classic art studio with a kiln and a pot belly stove. My father had a photography lab in the basement and creativity was our holy grail. My mother painted, made ceramics, and we had the most amazing sewing room.
After two years of college, I left and attended the Paier College of Art in New Haven, Connecticut. I majored in Illustration and art history. Life went on and I got married and had a five-month-old baby girl, when I got hired as one of the original instructors for Jane Fonda’s Workout. This led me to a career in health, nutrition, and fitness. I was labeled “the diet guru to the stars” by People magazine and had a 25-year successful career in the diet and health industry. I was most well-known for fighting the food industry’s false labeling and chemical ingredients. I wrote two bestselling books for Bantam Doubleday Dell, “Food Cop” and “Diet 911” and became a spokesperson, television personality, and health-based entrepreneur.
As with many artists who are working and raising a family, art was on the backburner. I retired in 2010 and took a local class in mosaics, and I was hooked. I researched all of the workshops online and began studying and traveling all over America and abroad taking endless workshops with the Masters, Mirrelle Swinnon, Yulia Hanansen, Katherine England, Donna Van Hooser, Kory Dollar, and many more.
I took many workshops with Italian and Mexican Smalti but found my niche in Stained glass. I love making painterly, flowing mosaics out of something as rigid as glass. The flow, andamento, fitting, and color gradations are always challenging. You can’t just mix your colors as you would with paint.
I fill in each tiny gap with the tiniest of shards, then tint my grout to finally blend it all together. I call it “Art of a thousand cuts”.
Today I have a home in Mandeville Canyon, Brentwood, and a second home here in Ojai. I have studios in both homes.
I am a member of SAMA, CMA2, and The Ojai Valley Art Gallery.
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