My studio is in a white house in Northeast Ithaca near Sapsucker Woods. I paint colorful bold acrylic, watercolor and sumi ink paintings. I’m inspired by the ecology around me, as well as mythological creatures and different cultural heritages. I am trained as an anthropologist and use that insight in my paintings.
I graduated from my doctoral program in Anthropology at Cornell University in 2022. I spent multiple years in various parts of Asia conducting research—and you can see this influence in the motifs and themes, as well as materials, of my artwork—for example, kokeshi wooden doll paintings and Lóng the Chinese dragon. My paintings are mostly representational and narrative in nature. I enjoy telling stories through my artwork.
I am also a science fiction and fantasy writer and my artwork and fiction writing inform one other. I’m interested in sociological meanings that underlie everyday mundane activities—and some of my paintings feature fantastical creatures doing ordinary human things like sharing bread, going on a wine trail or visiting waterfalls as a tourist. Additionally, I teach martial arts and my paintings reflect my interest in movement arts and cultural implements.
In addition to paintings and drawings, my whimsical functional ceramics are also on display in my studio.
I like the flow of acrylic, watercolor, sumi and shuimo ink. They remind me movement flows in martial arts. I enjoy the meditative quality of directing these mediums, feeling out the way they glide and circulate across the canvas.
Studio Accessibility
One step up from driveway to path, three steps to studio.