Making art has been my predominant pursuit since the age of two. I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I have lived and worked all my life, except for two-and-a-half years in New York City. I earned a BFA from the University of Nebraska, majoring in printmaking and graphic design. I worked as a toy-maker, animator and visiting university instructor of design and illustration before focusing on freelance illustration for more than 20 years. I’m also the grateful mother of two splendid grown children.

In 1993, I began making cloth dolls as my mode of artistic expression, creating figures for collectors. I also began teaching workshops in dollmaking techniques. My dolls are stylized, neither extremely realistic nor overly embellished. Their design evolved from my illustration style: decorative and uncomplicated, with carefully orchestrated colors. They are inspired by my love of fine textiles and beautiful patterns. They feature needle-sculpted, embroidered faces, wooden ball joints and my signature stuffed cloth hair. Their visual appeal relies largely upon the juxtaposition of the patterns, textures, and colors of collaged fabrics. They offer a comforting serenity.

I aspire to an aesthetic grounded in beauty, sweetness, genuine emotions, intelligence, stability, passion, dreams and the unconscious, and the spiritual nature of human beings. I want each doll to express an individual “presence.” I make dolls because they seem to be a uniquely accessible art form. When a doll is profoundly rendered, it mirrors the human spirit that is familiar to us all.