My Story

Born and raised in Metro Detroit, my passion for creating art can be traced to a single memorable experience in a grade school art class.

While studying notable artists and their influential styles, a painting by Georges Pierre Seurat entitled ‘A Sunday on La Grande Jatte’ left a lasting impression. Seurat’s technique called Pointillism – applying small, distinct dots of color in various patterns to form a desired image – captivated me. To this day, I remember a silly tagline from a TV commercial highlighting his work – “Seurat knew a lot about dots!”

I spent several decades experimenting with various styles and mediums until I focused my efforts exclusively on the Pointillism style. Adding a unique twist to the technique, I replaced the paint brush with map pins while using a limited color palette. My palette consisted of only primary colors: red, yellow and blue, along with white, which are hand placed into definitive patterns on a black background to create both the illusion of additional colors and a three-dimensional appearance.

Unfortunately, later in life, I began experiencing episodes of Clinical Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. These episodes would stifle my creative process for long periods of time. However, to overcome these debilitating episodes, I found that creating art was very therapeutic. Still today, producing art is an integral part of my continued recovery process.

In 2018, I began my first comprehensive pin art series entitled ‘Influencers.’ This 20-piece series centers on mental illness and its impact on celebrities including Taylor Swift, Mark Wahlberg and Kobe Bryant, among many others. These well-known personalities have been personally burdened with or became advocates for mental illness. Despite battling my own illness and experiencing a global wide pandemic, I completed ‘Influencers’ in four years.

In 2022, I produced a limited two-piece series entitled ‘Right Brain, Loves Trains’ highlighting a childhood interest – trains and railways.

In 2023, after relocating to Florida, my inspiration transitioned to the peace and tranquility of a coastal lifestyle. My new series of pieces can be seen under my Coastal Life page.

To this day, creative expression is a necessary part of my ongoing therapy to overcome my episodes of mental illness. As a result, I am a member of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for families affected by mental illness.