After graduating in 2000 with a Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture degree from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, I studied for a short time at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. In 2005, I earned my Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Since then, I've participated in two Italian residencies, have shown my work locally, nationally, and internationally, and have conducted metal pours all over Wisconsin. I currently teach at UW-Whitewater and recently at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My studio is in Chilton, WI where I have a small foundry and host metal pours attended by artists from all over the United States.
My subject matter comes mainly from the strong women around me whom I admire. My mother, grandmother, female friends, and female students often inspire mywork. Some of my inspiration also comes from fashion and costume and the juxtaposition of those against the gritty work of casting metal. And some of the work, like what you see here, is about environmental concerns and women and Earth as powerful nurturers. My work is essentially about the dignity and pride of being female and feminine and the reality of manual labor,hard work, and responsibility, and how we balance those things daily. My ultimate hope is that the work causes the viewer to laugh, self-reflect, or empathize and that, through that experience, they have a better appreciation for the role of art as something to make us pause and consider our environment, our own humanity, and that of others.