I grew up in Chillicothe, a small rural town in northwest Missouri. During my twenties and thirties, I studied art at Central College in Pella, Iowa, Missouri Western College in St. Joseph, Missouri and the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. From 1980 to 1992, I worked as a graphic designer and a product photographer for a small commercial print shop. My husband, Mike and I moved to Columbia in 2001.

I am a still life photographer. I became a still life photographer as the result of working as a product photographer for several years in Chillicothe, Mo. I prefer still life photography because it allows me the time and control to create just what I want. I build each image with deliberate action...each shape, texture and color is carefully selected and placed.

Each of my still life photographs is organized and constructed with a sensitivity to “just the right” available light. I may wait hours for the perfect light to fall on a construction. I can’t predict what the light will be, but I know it when I see it.

I am a collector of odds and ends. The items I collect are often found objects I pick up on walks and excursions outside. The bulk of my collection, which is neatly organized in drawers in my studio, is the result of the eighteen years I have lived in Columbia.

The city of Columbia and the surrounding area is home to an abundance of parks, scenic trails and spaces... places to exercise, play, relax, enjoy wildlife and observe the beauty of nature. Columbia is “green” space to me. For me, the green spaces provide a place to play and be entertained. My work in this show is a representation of the treasures I have found on my walks.