Southern Sojourn -Art Making in the South

I grew up in Buffalo NY, moved to the South in my forty's and finally landed in Wyoming eleven years ago. Every move has influenced my art and choice of art making materials. While living in Georgia, I became interested in a fascinating grass…bamboo. Walking through bamboo groves is like being in a living wind chime with the rustle of leaves and the clanking of culms. Bamboo boosts hundreds of species with different colors and patterning. The rate of growth is astounding. A truly renewal resource used by many cultures for shelter and food. The South’s bounty of amazing plants also became my fiber source for paper making and vines for my paper mache pieces. Another fast growing Southern plant led me to a series about the sweet potato and Southern foodways. I collected old regional cookbooks looking for recipes. I haunted the Dekalb County Farmers market surreptitiously searching for interesting shapes. I even took my sweet potatoes casts to a  Jill Connor Brown book talk. Brown is the author of several books including,The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of LoveandThe Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide.She “adored,”my sweet potato paper-casts and agreed to autograph them if she could own one too! I continue to interpret the things that interest me and the places I live through the language of art. Art never ceases to bring me to interesting, places, spaces and faces. 


Southern Sojourn will be on display through June and July. Openings on June 11th and July 9th during the Cheyenne Artwalk from 5-8. Other times by appointment or chance.