Welcome to my website! I make illustrations and block prints in Waldoboro, Maine, a charming town on the mid-coast where I live on a small wild blueberry farm that formerly belonged to my Great Aunt Laura and Uncle Wilbert. I also host workshops in block/relief printing and other crafts at my home studio and other venues.
I am attracted to the graphic elements of my immediate surroundings here in Maine. Everywhere I see strong lines, bold shapes, saturated colors, textures and patterns that feed my desire to generate images. Carving a block of wood or linoleum is a decisive and immediate act that I find engaging and meditative. Using knives and gouges to realize a design appeals to my love of making things with my hands and my appreciation for craftsmanship. For me, it is the perfect way to interpret, express my love for and celebrate the beautiful world in which we live.
A native of Kennebunk, Maine, I earned a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Illustration and worked toward an MFA in Studio Teaching at Boston University. My work as a printmaker has been recognized with an Individual Arts Fellowship in Printmaking by the Maine Arts Commission and I am a member of the Boston Printmakers. My prints have been exhibited in invitational, juried and group shows throughout the country and included in the Maine-Aomori Print Exchange with Japan.
For illustrations I use a variety of media including watercolor, gouache, colored pencil and collage. Many of the children’s books I have illustrated have been recognized with awards and starred reviews including:
- Market Day, by Eve Bunting (HarperCollins):
Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Picture Book Illustration - The Impudent Rooster, by Sabina Rascol (Dial Books for Children):
Silver Medal, Society of Illustrators, NYC
First runner up for Vermont’s Red Clover Award
New York Public Library’s “100 titles for Reading and Sharing” - The Gingerbread Cowboy, by Janet Squires (HarperCollins):
Chosen by Governor Janet Napolitano as Arizona’s First Grade Book - How Mama Brought the Spring, by Fran Manushkin (Dial Books for Children):
Maine Lupine Honor Book Award
My original book illustrations have been included in exhibits and traveling shows:
- Society of Illustrators, NYC
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Treehouse Museum, Ogden, UT
- Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, ME
- Mazza Museum, Findlay, OR
- National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, Abilene, TX