I have always been a perfectionist.  At times, I had difficulty resolving my perfectionist tendencies with my self-expression. Research for my artwork began with an exploration of nature, what I deemed the ultimate source of perfection.  I was heavily influenced by Chuck Close.  As in his work, my paintings reflected the ideals of photorealism in their attempts to depict nature’s truest form. 

      As I continued to develop my theme and explore art galleries in New York, I discovered Mary Cassatt, whose work spoke to me.  Cassatt’s evocative paintings engendered a personal conflict within my artwork, namely between my adherence to principles of realism and my desire to express sentiment.  My theme, in turn, evolved from the depiction of physical nature to a representation of human nature’s complexity.  Working with oil and acrylic paints to achieve a variety of tones and evoke diverse emotions, I began to examine human nature’s duality. 

     This exploration was greatly transformed by my work with clay.  Having educated myself in the Japanese ceramic philosophy of “form follows function,” I devoted my efforts to the articulation of theme rather than a realistic rendering of subject matter.  I recognized that in exploring human nature’s duality, I was unconsciously expressing my own culture of sisterhood.  Inspired by female ceramicist Viola Frey, who turned away from conventional refinement, I embarked upon an artistic journey to express female oppression and the need for gender equality.  My utilization of clay instilled in my work qualities of dimensionality and texture that complemented the tone of my pieces.  Although I was plagued by an explosion of my work in the kiln, my experiments with clay enhanced my work.  This exploration helped me to finally renounce my perfectionism and learn from the artistic process, all of which have further developed my theme of sisterhood.