As a young girl growing up in California, I spent hours crouched in the sand on Venice Beach searching for shells so small they’d be invisible to most. Losing myself, intent on the hunt, shutting out the rest of the world, nothing existed but the grains of sand directly before my eyes. In that isolation was quiet contentment and exhilaration when I’d find a perfect shell, perhaps the size of a seed pearl, a tiny treasure. And, when not on the beach I’d be belly down in the grass creating worlds in my imagination, or up in my favorite tree lost in the maze of patterns in a piece of bark.

My visual vocabulary is grounded in naturally occurring forms, rooted in the microcosmic worlds of my childhood. I still experience the same intense focus when in my studio, the patient drive and exhilaration, but through the years the need to isolate has melted away and I feel the threads of connection binding me to the rest of the world. My interest is in the human condition, primarily the lives of women and the myths and realities surrounding them. Words and worn phrases stimulate me and often result in the imagery that appears in my work.


Rose