I was born in Denver, Colorado but was raised in the San Louis Valley, Colorado. This is high desert country, dry, sere and stark. It has its own beauty, if you look closely enough: alkaline soils that produce rich colors of ocher, bronze, copper, azure, turquoise and white, the misty blue of sagebrush and ironwood, the soft gold of sunflowers, the fragile tints of Columbines and the brilliant red of Indian Paintbrush. As a child, I spent a lot of time exploring the area near my home, as well as some of the old mining towns in the mountains surrounding the valley. I became an avid rock collector and gained an appreciation for the beauty of the mountains, plateaus and valleys where I lived.

As I grew older, I became fascinated with the ocean and marine life. I majored in Fish Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and eventually made the Puget Sound my home.

Weaving became a passion after graduating from college, and I enjoyed selecting natural threads and yarns to weave into scarves and shawls. I loved how the colors interacted and interwove to give a final result that was always more than the "sum of the parts". It was addicting and wonderful! I eventually began to think that I would like to begin to incorporate unusual beads into some of my weaving to add texture and interest. I had a very good friend who was a jewelry maker and she suggested a bead shop in the Fremont District of Seattle. I took my son, Adrian with me and we went to the shop. They had a glass beadmaking class going on when we got there, taught by Larry Brickman. My son and I watched them for a bit, then I went and signed both of us up for a three day beginning beadmaking class. That was about 10 years ago and we are both still making beads.

I have been fortunate to be able to study with Larry Brickman, Larry Scott, Jim Smircich, Corina Tettinger, Kate Fowle, Andrea Guarino, Michael Barley and Lucio Bubbaco. Their influence is evident in my work. But I continually strive to find my own voice in glass, to express my own perspective and inner self. The love of the natural world is still with me. I try to capture the colors and textures of my childhood in the glass beads that I make. Sometimes the simple beauty of a glass bead can transport me back to the carefree hours spent in the wild outdoors.

I have been published in...
"Beads of Glass", by Cindy Jenkins
"1000 Glass Beads", 2004, Lark Books
"'OBSESSION': A ten year affair with the bead" The International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB), Juried Catalogue.

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