I have been an artist since 1974 when I left my husband and got serious about art. Originally a painter, I began to work in fabric, using material I had been saving to make a quilt. One day I made a picture with my fabrics and knew I had found my medium! My issues are of family life, portraits, and political issues. Because of prejudice against “craft”, I expanded my work to include writing, paint, curating and performance art.
- Saturday Night at the Movie
In 1982 I coordinated an art conference and exhibition of B. C.. Women Artists. In 1986 my political performance piece, “Amazing Grace” received international coverage including an exhibition in New York City. My exhibition of paintings dealing with issues of racism was exhibited in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Hamilton. and in both 1988 and 1991, I curated two different national exhibitions dealing with Censorship in the arts. I have had exhibitions across Canada, and received several Canada Council grants. I write regularly both articles and reviews.
I have a commitment to bring art to the people and as such show in as many public venues as possible. I have shown my work in restaurants and even in a train station. In 1993 I was artist in residence for the city of Burnaby, which included a two month open studio at Metrotown, a local mall. In the past few years I have been making murals. In 1994 I curated an exhibit of works by senior women artists which was to travel to China for the United Nations Fourth International Women’s Conference.
- Big Money-This is a piece of handmade paper. It is constructed of shredded Canadian dollars. Then it is painted to look like a US Dollar. 2.5′ x 6′
From 1994 to 1997 I took a straight job and was the Cultural Arts Coordinator for the Jewish Community Centre. Due to my political perspective, I was soon back being an artist.
In 2004 I finally threw in the towel and became a Realtor. I actually loved being a realtor as I enjoyed looking in other people’s closets and helping people find the house of their dreams. I also made some very good friends this way. But, then came the fall of Capitalism and I decided to semi retire. I wanted to get back to being an artist in my declining years and besides Real Estate was slowing down.
Now I still help people buy or sell homes and I am spending my dotage writing my memoirs and am back making art.
December, 2011
