My approach to art comes from two entirely different places – one place is my mind which simply wants to depict something pretty or interesting – the other is raw emotion which needs to get onto a canvas so that my mind can then take over and push it around, shape it, build upon it or throw it away. I am not particular about the medium used, as long as it is fluid enough to allow me to have my way with it. The important thing is my relationship to the canvas, the excitement I feel as I watch the images being born from my hand and the satisfaction that comes after of figuring out what the heck I was feeling.
I was born and raised in New York City in a fifth floor walk-up railroad flat in Chelsea - before it was Chelsea. Then it was a true New York neighborhood of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Puerto Rico and more. As a school girl, I was brimming over with a creative urge that neither I nor my old school Puerto Rican parents nor the nuns at my Catholic school could contain. While I had absolutely no training in any of the arts, I managed to land parts in school plays, taught myself to sing and learned dance moves by sneaking into rehearsal venues and watching the likes of Donald O’Connor practice.
While my main source of income has always been from accounting jobs, the arts were where my heart lay. In my early adult years I dabbled in everything from pottery, leather working, and jewelry making; and took art courses at the New School in New York City.
For eight years my partner and I created and sold wearable hand-painted silk accessories at the Brooklyn Artisans Gallery, an artist owned and run business in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn where we lived.
Although I got great satisfaction from the Visual Arts, I was still drawn to the performing arts so I took classes at the HB Studio in New York where I studied with Uta Hagen, Sandy Dennis and Michael Becket. Through the years several acting gigs presented themselves to me, including parts in a couple of off-broadway productions, roles in the TV series, NYPD Blue and Law and Order, 100 Center Street and most recently a supporting role in the film shot in Newburgh titled “Mi America.”
Since retiring from my “real job” I am spending more time on my artwork and enjoying life in the Hudson Valley surrounded by an incredible group of “creatives” who keep me inspired.