Like Suzanne, I have deep roots in the Southwestern region of Ohio, growing up with multiple

generations of my family in the Cincinnati area. The women in my family expressed their

resourcefulness and creativity through needlework and quilt-making, and I still treasure the

quilts that my grandmother made for my dolls.

As an artist, I revere women quilt-makers as abstract artists, creating intricate patterns and

designs by arranging and piecing together small, often humble elements. In my own artwork, I

have experimented with fabric and quilt-making techniques, and I often re-visit individual

photographic images to explore their potential to become elements of a larger whole. In Blue

21 for example, I have combined multiple close-up images of the range of blues in a single blue

jay, piecing them together in a quilt-like, kimono-shaped pattern to re-configure the bird in an

entirely new composite image.