I was born and raised in a small town in Northern NJ just outside of NYC in Magical Bergen County. I call it Magical because you can drive 15 minutes in one direction and be in the city and 15 minutes in the other direction and be in the country~ the best of both worlds!
Both of my Grandmothers sewed, One on an old treadle machine (which I still have) and one was a professional machine embroiderer. I would stand next to them and watch them sew and be fascinated as a tiny kid. I was allowed to put my hands on the fabric and help them feed it through the machine.
By the age of 5 I was sewing fervently on my Mother's Singer making costumes and other things to dress up in. I always looked at the fabric, envisioned what I wanted to make and started cutting. Trial and error was how I learned to design and my relatives would marvel at the weird little kid always making things for hours on end. To this day I retain this Tantric ability to concentrate!
Later on I would embroider friends' jeans in high school and make a few bucks. It was the 70's and we all had my sunrises, rainbows etc on our jeans.
After some college in Graphic Arts and Behavioral Science, I was lucky enough to take a few years for travel. This was Wordly Adventure time! Some of those adventures included Europe, New Orleans (several times), the Yucatan, New Mexico and Maine. All of these places were full of unique spectacular beauty and every one of them left a lasting impression on me. Needless to say I still draw inspiration from them and, I'm quite sure, always will!
After that I started making stage clothing for my brother's rock band. I didn't like working with spandex but that was always the fabric of choice for 80's hair bands.
Then came Medieval Costuming that was even more fun for me-all the wonderful velvets, tapestries etc...Lots of beadwork too! I was in my glory. I did alot of handstitching on those items.
In the 90's I was creating mohair Teddy Bears as Devon Valley Bruins. Those bears were completely handsewn and made with the finest English and German components. Very costly and time consuming. I sold them through shops and trade shows.
All throughout my life I have sketched, painted, molded, photographed, stitched...CREATED!
Today I combine all my creative abilities into my Eclectic Artwork. As a dollmaker, assemblage artist, weaver I am very interested in texture and color. No matter what it is I am working on I will combine a love of nature with textures that appeal to and feel good to me. I have donated works to V-Day.org to promote womens awareness and have participated in many events for animal rights & shelters as well as SoHo's Night of 1000 Artists. My works have been featured in the prestigious Somerset Studio Gallery magazine and I have been photographed for a book on NJ Women with Ink by photographer John Rizzuto.
I constantly search the flea markets and antique shops for fabrics, trims and odd bits & bobs to add to my pieces. There are many antique and vintage elements to my pieces giving them a special distant energy. Additionally, I will often use things from nature and that imparts the natural (and very powerful) energy of the Earth.
I like to do a variety of items but my specialty and favorites will always be Witch themed.
I am totally inspired by my surroundings, nature, my animals, music. You will often see a Woodland or Nature theme to my pieces.
I still live in the town where I was born and raised in the house that was my Grandmother's. With me is my old Chihuahua, Mick (Micky Spillane), who became orphaned when his owner went into a nursing home. He's been with me a long time now and is referred to as the 'Tiny Terror'. These days he's living La Dolce Vita in the geriatric fast lane and I swear I should have stock in the wee-wee pad company by now!
It is hard to imagine, but I lost both of my beloved cats within less than 2 months time. Deva crossed over the Rainbow Bridge on February 18, 2005 and Valhalla joined her on April 4, 2005. The loss of my two beautiful cats is totally devastating. I can hardly withstand it. They had been with me for so long. But they are back together now and happily waiting for me to join them one day in the Summerlands. They are buried next to each other right here in the Woodland and they have a beautiful place to rest. I love my girls and miss them terribly. Huge pieces of my heart went with them.
I come from a fiercly close family that always encouraged individuality and creativity and exposed us to art, music and culture regularly. I can proudly say that as a result I have always danced to a different drummer and am so very thankful for that!
My parents live 3 blocks away and my brother and his family are nearby as well.
I call my little piece of the World my 'Woodland' and keep an Herb garden. My Rosemary bush is bigger than me! That is another passion of mine, gardening. My Grandmother was an avid gardener and many of the things in my Woodland were originally planted by her! There is a wonderful spiritual connection here what with 3 generations of us having lived in this house.
Some other passions (I'm passionate about everything) of mine are antique dolls (Pre 1930, especially)(antiques of ALL kinds, really), vintage sewing machines, classic hearses, hot rod & tattoo culture, Tiki culture and Papua New Guinea Art, ghost hunting and collecting Victorian taxidermy pieces (I own an original Victorian Rowland Ward Warthog as well as other antique pieces from England and Germany) and antique mortuary memorabilia (including an early 19th c. embalming table and a British hand carved toe pincher coffin), circus and sideshow memorabilia all of which make me the eclectic Witchy Woman I am! Interests fuel our existence and enrich our lives! My home is a magical one of a kind cottage filled to the rafters with oddities that I have collected over many years. It has been likened to a museum. You'd be hard pressed to find a collection like this one. Of course, it also houses my studio which I like to call a Rainbow of Chaos. I also have the most perfect lawn on the block! I relish a beautiful surrounding.
All of my pieces are original works of art and are made with the utmost attention to detail. They are made with absolute love and positive energy and I send that out to you along with each and every one.
Tinker says: ADOPT AN OLDER PET! the reward is immeasurable and they REALLY need the home!
