Photography – Kansas City
I received my first camera at the age of nine and have been making photographs ever since then. I am a fourth generation artist, my father is a painter, so I grew up drawing and painting as well as making photographs. When I was tall enogh to focus an enlarger my father put me in the darkroom and began to teach me to print. I have always had an intense interest in literature and creative writing. I have a BA in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing. Poetry is the vehicle I use to begin the formation of visual ideas. I use the poetry I write to establish an emotional template to refer to while I work on a series of images.
My work was first included in a formal exhibit when I was 14 through the National Scholastic Arts Awards. I exhibited sporadically for several years winning awards for my photography and for my drawings. I had a solo exhibit at Trish Higgins Fine Art in Wichita, KS in 2000 and was invited by the Wichita State University School of Art and Design to be a Lecturer in Photography. I taught there for three years.
Most recently I lived in Kabul, Afghanistan providing dental laboratory support for a free clinic and taking dental treatment into imprisoned Afghan women and their children. While there I lectured at the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan and am currently on the CCAA Advisory Board.