VI.
Biography

Work as a studio violinist gave me a unique opportunity to become familiar with the multiple ways the entertainment industry presents a story, and  travel for live performance (often together with my husband, Jim) allowed me to explore some of the world’s most incredible  forests. Below is a partial resume from that multi-media journey. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

Forests, stories and technology 

On the digital canvas light becomes my medium. I love the sheer beauty of emitted light and the brilliance and depth of color created by mixing light. These same electromagnetic waves, as they are reflected or emitted from matter in space, are used to collect information about the universe. My curiosity about the interconnection between humanity and nature is my inspiration. Digital imagery has become a journey into the mystery  surrounding our ability to reason and the influence our individual perceptions of reality have upon our ability to communicate. That the phenomenon of light can be used to transform the energy of intangible thought into a visual art form is to me like the magic of the stars. Light as medium has become the bridge between my imagination and the physical world, and at the same time, digital imagery allows me to explore my love of language. I use the beauty of word in its symbolic letter form as a design element and am deeply mindful of the profound psychological influence of the words we share as communication.

My exposure to the integration of technology and the arts began as a teen with an introduction to a waveform generator designed by Donald Buchla. Buchla used an analogue sequencer to generate a series of voltages which, in turn, controlled frequencies of oscillators and filters. Although it was called a "synthesizer" by the electronic and music industries, Buchla objected to the term, because his Electronic Music System was not meant to imitate or synthesize the sounds of traditional musical instruments, but was built to generate unique sounds and frequencies. Years later, as a working violinist, I could appreciate the importance of making this distinction when synthesizers specifically designed to re-create the sounds of orchestral instruments began to replace live musicians. To me, recording synthesized imitations of traditional instruments with a small number of live players added to the mix can never replace the sound of the live studio or symphony orchestra. But when the composer uses the unique sound capabilities of the synthesizer as an addition to traditional instrumentation, then amazing new colors of sound are created. Similarly, I believe digital rendering cannot replace traditional drawing and painting art media. Its beauty lies in the unique capabilities of the computer and software combined with the humanity of the artist. Then digital becomes a fascinating new tool with infinite possibilities for expression.