Artist Statement

I was born in 1949 in the south of France. I enjoy cooking and eating. Wait a minute, sorry, that’s Eleanor Cantwell, my character in the “memos to Americans” series.

I was born in 1951 in Morgan County, Illinois and grew up on my grandmother’s farm where, with seven people in the five room house, there was little space for privacy. The sky became my refuge as did the piano.

What is it?
How did you do it?
It is not the film that is special, or the camera, or the printing technique.

It is the light.

And it is with us always, everywhere.

I see it, am sensitive to it, and wait for it.

What might come next?

I have no plan.

I am just following the story - the experiences, the lessons, the suffering and inspirations change me.

And my work continues to change.

Like the Mississippi River that I lived by and watched every day,

I cannot stop it from moving, and I cannot see the end.

I work with natural light. I do not manipulate the scene, the subject matter, the exposure, or the printing process.

My goal in making the print is to let the image reveal itself, its’ aliveness.

The images will speak for themselves; they are the visual summary.

As for the sky, I was watching, wondering, wanting. I was thrilled with the camera at an early age, but my dreams were abandoned. After attending Western Illinois University and Parks School of Fashion Merchandising in Denver, I worked for seven years as a clothing buyer.

In 1977, I stopped everything and began to study and work full time with photography. I completed my B.B.A. at the University of Wisconsin and studied Art History.

In photography, I am primarily self taught. For a few years it was solely black and white; then my world changed, and my vision changed. In 1982, I surrendered my life to God’s Will or maybe I should say, He found me when I had nothing left to surrender except my stubborn will. I have since exhibited one-person shows in numerous galleries spanning the country from the Dubuque Museum of Art to the Plains Gallery in Portland, Maine. I have exhibited in group shows in galleries in Rochester, Minnesota, and Laguna Beach, California, as well as Madison and Milwaukee.

I was at home in the DK Gallery in Cassville, Wisconsin from 1986-1994, where I spent a lot of time alone, walking and watching the river, and listening for the “next clue!”