My role as a photographer is that of a director, producer, and actor.  My work is done where costume, memory, mood, and location coalesce.  This place can be a physical reality or something that needs to be brought to life.  My characters are revolving (and evolving) and are often based on people in my past or present.  

Growing up in a rural Oklahoma town of 1200 people, one has to entertain herself.  As a child I had lots of time to snoop and observe.  I whiled hours away reading, playing outside, roller skating, and just wondering about things.  Freedom was mine.  It was an idyllic time.  Growing up with a single mom, I also had a lot of time to watch TV; sitcoms ruled.  The slapstick humor of Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball, The Love Boat, Three's Company, Leave it to Beaver, Gilligan's Island, soap operas...I watched it all. 

Formal art was absent in my community growing up, but I was exposed to the art of fashion/ costuming in a sense by watching my grandmother and mother “put on their faces” and assemble their “outfit” of the day.  Both of these ladies were able seamstresses and sewed their own and at times, my clothes.  I developed a sense of fashion, pattern, color, and period because of them.

In my “character” portraits, I strive to mimic folks I have known: my cowboy stepfather,  minister's wives, my mother, and wild women.  We're all actors to a degree in the world, and I like to put on costumes that change my identity.  Putting on a new dress or a “face” can transport us emotionally and literally.  At a base level, the process of becoming another is fun, which is why I do it. I strive to delight others and make them smile or take pause from their mundanity.  Discovering fantastic locations to photograph these visual narratives also thrills me.

 Performance art/photography allows me to discover new things about myself and to push back against being invisible.  In so doing, my claim is staked as a valuable, important, creative citizen.  

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