ABSTRACT

For as long as I can remember I have loved to paint and draw. Throughout my college years I pursued the visual arts-painting, drawing, photography, and art history. My experiences with certain professors helped me to define my path as an artist and later on as an art teacher. While enrolled as an art student at the University of California at Santa Barbara in the late 1970s, I was advised by one professor in particular to investigate the art world of Los Angeles. As my studies advanced, my interest in art-making only grew stronger. I was developing my own hand, finding my own voice. The same professor encouraged me to apply to graduate school in visual art, assisting me in creating an entire body of new work for a portfolio. During the early 1980s, art and the politics of the times drew me into making large sculptural “installations” (using a gallery space, props, sound, and/or video) to make visual statements. I left the paper and canvas behind for a less tangible kind of artwork.