I was born in 1981 in Cleveland Ohio, USA, and grew up in a family of artists and builders. I studied Textile Design at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked for 15 years as a textile designer in the interiors industry. This career brought me to Portugal, where I fell in love with the landscape and lifestyle. I moved to Lisbon in 2013 and to Peniche in 2014.
Learning to surf and living the beach life, I noticed the overwhelming problem of marine plastic pollution. I got involved with the local beach cleaning community and was inspired to start using trash in my collages. I found that plastic trash has many of the material properties I am interested in, as well as holding meaning about our consumerist society and notions of value and cost.
I create mixed media collages highlighting plastic trash. I am interested in layered surfaces activated with transparent, reflective, and fragmented materials, properties I find easily in trash. My methods are drawn from my background in textiles, my love /hate relationship with painting, and my natural proclivity for collage. The trash I use is foraged from the beach, forest, fields, and garbage cans around my home, donated by friends and saved from my own consumption.
I currently live and work in Baleal, Portugal. I have exhibited my work in Lisbon and around Portugal, most recently in the Museu da Renda de Bilros in Peniche. I have attended the PADA Studios Residency in Barreiro, Portugal.