My deepest feelings and understandings come from a sense of place. As a professor, I have studied its influences on human behavior. As a southern woman, I am certain that the Louisiana haunts of my childhood shaped what I discern and what I love. As an artist, I passionately paint the impression of places on the spirit.
Sometimes these places I paint are from exotic sojourns-- to Samoa in the Peace Corps, to Southeast Asia with Fulbright, to the American West to stand in awe, or to southern Europe to teach or paint. Or they can be verdant vistas of the Carolina mountains and piedmont where I live today. But they always seem to return to the intimate spaces of my home, my garden, or my neighbor’s porch.
I create deep memories of a space and seemingly never forget a location or the path there. If such an attribute is a kind of intelligence or talent, then I am fortunate, as an artist, to have found my way.