Before the age of 31, I was a trained economist with little exposure to art. In 1991, I took a drawing and painting class from a local community college and was instantly captivated.  After that class I pursued an education in art as avidly as I had earlier pursued my PhD. I took classes in figure drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture and printmaking.  I read voraciously about art history and art making. I soon abandoned my career as an economist and became a full time artist.

Collage Memoir is an installation of recent work that tells the story of my conversion from economist to artist.  The two and three dimensional mixed media pieces contain a variety of souvenirs of various chapters of my life including maps, economics notes, old business cards and legos.  These juxtaposed fragments layered on to the surfaces create a multidimensional self portrait.  

A written collage memoir contains disparate fragments that tell a life story when combined.  Each portion might read as disjointed from the others until viewed as a whole.  My Collage Memoir uses abstract mixed media  with a diverse range of collage elements to tell my story. While all of these works were completed recently, some of them used older paintings as a base, reworking them and adding new components.  All of these artworks use collage and mixed media to show how my life has been built up in layers, the economist lurks under the surface of the artist.  

My economics notes reflect my time earning a Ph D in Economics.  These notes represent not only an aspect of my personality, but also an important influence on my art.  My training with its emphasis on logic is visible in the structure of my paintings and my cerebral approach to art.  Meanwhile, my use of Legos in some of my Collage Memoir compositions convey the playful side of my nature as well as my years spent on the floor playing with children and grandchildren.  I also used maps as frequent collage elements for this installation.  A crucial aspect of my artistic development  was extensive time studying and drawing in museums around the world, and these maps depict some of the cities that have been important to my education as an artist.  Finally I use insects as symbolic of all the periods of grief  that are part of my story.   Insects tend to creep in and take over when you least expect it, the way that bereavement intrudes periodically in all lives.  

As I tear up maps and economics notes to include them in my paintings on linen and board, they become increasingly abstracted from their meaning, retaining their variety of marks and color.   I use many layers of paint and drawing to build up the surface.  Some of these paintings are then embellished with legos while others are part of an installation with wire mesh, beads, mylar and wire.   This installation contains a variety of works: from a wall with collaged self portraits to 3 dimensional lego constructions. Some parts of the installation come off the wall and hang from the ceiling or land on the floor, reflecting the chaotic aspect of my personality.  This controlled chaos translates into a very disorganized studio but also an openness to experiment with new techniques and material that is integral to my Collage Memoir.