I am an artist and educator living and working in South Bend, Indiana. I make artwork because I have a need to express my inner thoughts and connect with my inner life through visual images. I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan surrounded by lakes and trees. I spent countless hours in or on them. I developed my love for drawing nature and the human figure during my college years and explored techniques around photocopy reproductions, collage, drawing, painting and printmaking. My work has been consistently influenced by nature over the years and I continue to be inspired by the environment, climate change, and the human body. My goal as an artist is to create images that communicate to the viewer that life is interconnected and fragile. Our bodies should be valued and protected; the natural world, which our bodies are a part of should be valued and protected.