This wall hanging entitled Egypt was created during the Clay ConneCTion challenge. I challenged myself to create a series of four wall hangings incorporating the lotus flower and different cultured where the lotus is a predominant symbol. For this piece, I created canes of faux lapis with blue clay and pepper. I used a variety of techniques on this piece in addition to the faux lapis cane.

This piece is about 1' wide.

Gladys is the name of this fantastical dragon eye. It was made with Sculpey Souffle, a glass cabochon eye, hot fix rhinestones, mica powders, acrylic paint, and quartz points. She was sold to a friend who created a beautiful journal with her.

This piece is about 3.5" in diameter.

Media used: Polymer clay, acrylic paint, ink, collage with transfers on a wooden cradled panel. Dimensions: 8 x 8 x 2".

Da Vinci recorded his careful observations about the human figure in his notebooks and in his "Treatise on Painting". Here I combine his advice to artists regarding anatomy with classic anatomic images from other sources. I built this piece out three dimensionally with polymer clay. I invite the viewer to contemplate how our miraculous brains are always translating between 2 and 3 dimensions when we look at and create images, such as those in an anatomy book.

Media used: Polymer clay canes & freestyle in background, beads, metallic acrylic paint, homemade mold of a tin hand, on a framed wooden board. Dimensions: 12.5 x 12.5"

Caning was my first love in polymer clay and here I return to my roots. Creating art enables me to enter "the zone" where time blurs and the mind clears. To celebrate this meditative state invoked by hand work, I placed a clay hand in the center. Furthermore, I have made the atrocious pun of naming this piece "Handala", a reference to the mandalas of Asian art which are instruments of meditation.

Media used: Polymer clay (mokume gane and stamping), acrylic paint, inks, transferred text, found objects including a computer part, stencils, on a wooden plaque. Dimensions: 12 x 9.75".

This piece addresses my ambivalence about the role technology plays in our lives. The text throughout reads "opiate of the people of the opiate of the people...." etc. Marx called religion the opiate of the people. The shrine-like structure of this piece alludes to this. "Soma" (the centrally framed clay word inside the computer chip) is the fictional hallucinogenic drug in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"; this is the drug which kept society sedated and happy. Huxley no doubt borrowed the word "soma" from the Sanskrit word for a ritual drink in ancient Indian texts. Is technology a stupefying drug? Is it on par with a holy power? Have we abdicated our will to it? Here the claywork takes a backseat to the message.

Polymer Clay. 5 x 6.5 inches. Textured picture created with a basic initial inlay of plain coloured pieces.

All the detail is added by using thousands of tiny pieces of extruded polymer clay.

18"x 18", polymer clay over foil armature.

This piece was inspired by a sighting of a cinnamon black bear in Yellowstone National Park.

Polymer clay, wire mesh, acrylic paint, glitter, and oil pastels over acrylic ink painting on clayboard; 14 x 11"

This Gila Monster lizard used to visit our house. He was a little over a foot long and the piece is close to life-size. Gila Monsters have bumps all over their bodies. Each bump was individually cut out with a micro cutter, applied, and shaped by hand using custom tools I created from silicone molding material. There are over 2,000 bumps on the clay part of the lizard. The back half of the lizard and of the background are a 2-D acrylic ink painting with details scratched into the ink using an X-acto knife. I wanted to create the effect the lizard was coming out of the painting.

Polymer clay, wire mesh, mica powder, Micron pen, gel pens, acrylic paint, oil paint, embossing powder, seed beads, microbeads, seashells, fossil coral, epoxy, wire, and MDF board; 8" x 10"

"Giant Hawkfish: Sea of Cortez"/Hawkfish are so named because they perch on their fins on top of rocks waiting for prey. This fish is called Mero Chino (Chinese grouper) in Spanish because its markings look a bit like Chinese characters.

20 x 16 inches. Polymer clay, Apoxie Sculpt, beads, charms, souvenirs, jewelry pieces and found objects.

As a continued exploration of a theme, My Tree of Life, incorporates traditional iconography presented in a new way using modern materials. Using both polymer clay and Apoxie Sculpt, I am able to fabricate works that incorporate the many found objects, bits, pieces and souvenirs I gleaned while traveling the world. This is a tree that symbolizes my life’s wanderings through the tiny tokens, amulets and treasures embedded throughout the branches, each with a story to tell of a particular time and place. As such, this narrative mosaic serves as a keeper of my memories of the past few decades.

20 x 16 inches. polymer clay with image transfers, collage, jewelry pieces, charms and found objects.

Lady of the Pandemic is part of a series of artworks called During the Pandemic that I began back in March when Covid was just taking hold as a way to “mark” this historic time. These pieces address the issues of isolation, staying home and mask wearing. Inspired by both Spanish colonial art and Medieval art, Saint Corona figures predominately into this body of work. I used the now-ubiquitous imagery of the virus in both the background behind her halo and also on her cloak. She is holding a crown (corona) in her clasped hands, a symbol of the coronavirus. Below this is a banner that says Memento Mori, an artistic reminder about the inevitability of death and that death comes to us all regardless of our station in life. In my work, Saint Corona is invoked as a symbol of protection.

12 x 9 inches. polymer clay, handmade jewels, and found objects.

This piece was created in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the subsequent social justice movement that aimed to address the systemic racism that has plagued our nation for centuries. This polymer mosaic presents this contemporary theme about racial inequality but the imagery is juxtaposed with Medieval iconographical elements. Using the tarot card justice, this female figure holds the scales of justice in one hand and a sword in the other, a symbol of balance and fairness in dispensing justice. When viewed upright, tarot cards have one meaning, in this case that justice will be served. When viewed in reverse, they have the opposing meaning which in this case would mean unfairness, bigotry and bias. As a symbol of hope and “justice for all”, my image is facing upright.

26cm x 26cm, Polymer clay

I was on my flight from Dublin to Riga at the end of Winter 2019 when an idea for this wreath or crown design started to form. I suppose thread has a symbolic meaning of connection. In the creation process, extruded polymer clay threads are twisted and aligned, mirroring our everyday thoughts; the invisible connections we make with nature, ourselves, family and community around us.

18"x12"x3". Polymer clay, glitter, wire.

The face is one of my drawings transferred to clay. Her dress becomes her setting and her relm she reins over. She seems serene and joyful nature and wildlife. She has many hidden millefiori details of tiny like a moon, flowers and butterflies.

24" x 24", polymer clay, Italian glass, mirrors, metallic powder, grout & acrylic on wood.

Yankee Stadium lights at sunset, right field view.

16" x 20", polymer clay, Italian glass, mosaic tile, grout & acrylic on wood.

Portrait of Chelsea Smith.

11" x 14", polymer clay, Italian glass, grout & acrylic highlights on wood.

Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen open house, barbeque, sunset in July. The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen serves meal(s) (to) insecure folks, but is open and welcoming to everyone.

8" x 18" 

Cernit translucent polymer clay with sterling silver leaf inclusions and Jacquard mica powders for flowers. Premo translucent polymer clay with sterling silver inclusions for water. Premo polymer clay for leaves and stems. Flowers, leaves and water were sculpted separately and mounted on a gold-painted wooden board with E600 adhesive. No paints or molds were used in sculpting the polymer piece.

6" x 12", Polymer Clay