WILD GARDEN, 1979, Watercolor on Paper
25.5” x 21”, Collection of the Berman
Museum of Art

EARLY WORK

The works of this period express growing self-knowledge, independence, and feminine power. In the very early paintings, the figure and landscape were one.  Breasts and bellies and thighs formed the hills and the interchangeable symbol of eggs, seeds, moons, and tears flowed throughout.   The themes of these paintings reflect a period of self-awakening and inner growth both as an artist and as a woman.   

Later, the whole figure appears and moves through the paintings decisively and with imagination. She rejoices in both the light and dark sides of her character - the creator and the destroyer - which together are the creative force of nature.  Life cycles appear in many forms as well as the opposing forces of the sun and moon.  During this period, ideas and symbols, from ancient feminine mythologies inspired much of my work and I felt part of a thread going way back in time and joining my world to woman’s concerns throughout history.

AWAKENING, 1973, Gouache

27.75” x 19.5”, Collection of the
Berman Museum of Art.

During a very brief period of about three weeks in June 1982, when my mother was dying of cancer, a number of small watercolors appeared almost without thought, reflecting my own feelings about her illness. Like dreams, they are stories that my subconscious mind passed to my conscious mind, but through the act of painting.  When starting each one, I sat with a brush, paint, white paper and an empty mind. As I began to move the brush over the paper, stories began to reveal themselves on the paper.  As I saw figures, animals and other forms developing, my conscious mind would pull them out and make them clearer.  Some of the paintings were directly related to people in the family or events happening at that time.  My mother died on June 25, 1982, and the paintings stopped.

MOON CYCLE TRIPTYCH
1978, Water Color
17” x 26”, Collection of the
Berman Museum of Art

THE WOMEN AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH 1982 Gouache, 5.5” x 5.5”
Collection of the Artist