I’m a self taught artist, living in rural Northumberland County, Ontario, surrounded by farms, forests and the peace and quiet of wide open spaces. After decades of immersing myself in watercolours, acrylics, drawing, collage and travel photography, I’ve found my passion through the medium of Mixed Media Assemblage.
I was born in 1947 in London, England and immigrated to Canada in 1975. I grew up as a post war Baby Boomer in Brighton, Sussex, and came of age in the swinging 60’s. As a post war child of Eastern European immigrant grandparents, my working class family taught me to avoid waste, and everything we owned was carefully used, mended, and re-used before replacing. The Japanese term “Mottainia” (moat-tie-nigh) “Waste Nothing, Use Everything”, which encourages a deep respect and appreciation for objects and the energy used to create them, encapsulates the moral and aesthetic framework that I’ve carried throughout my life; and has become my philosophy, inspiration and passion for my Mixed Media Assemblage work.
Artist’s Statement 2026
My mixed media assemblage process begins as a kaleidoscopic weaving of repurposed textiles, found objects, and unique fragments, arranged and re-arranged until a meaningful pattern emerges. Each work unfolds as an open-ended puzzle, where often disparate elements emerge into surprisingly, cohesive landscapes.
Working with overlooked, forgotten or discarded textiles, found objects, and other reclaimed materials has, without intention, unearthed compelling narratives rooted in our ancestral, archetypal, cultural, and symbolic memory. Each piece a thread of continuity; a bridge between past and present, and our personal and collective and stories.
The process demands technical agility and patience — balancing colour, structure, and texture in ways that are often unknown until the piece begins to take on a life of it’s own.
However, fixing on outcome sometimes feels like a game of snakes and ladders, and can lead to an instinctive decision to take apart what has been painstakingly constructed, a process that teaches courage and trust in the infinite possibilities of creativity.
My work is also deeply influenced by a life immersed in colour, texture, and storytelling. From years as owner of Toronto’s Covent Garden Flower Market — celebrated for its imaginative floral designs and unique window displays — to wardrobe stylist, prop buyer and producer for film and television, to years of international travel photography, I have always been drawn to the composition of colour, objects, and narratives. Decades of scouring flea markets, vintage shops, church basements, and shorelines, deepened the impulse to collect fragments of the past – rusted wire, bleached driftwood, threadbare cushions, stones and glass smoothed by time and tides — each “find” a treasure, each embodying a secret story of survival.
In weaving together fragments of the overlooked and discarded, my assemblages recognize a truth that celebrates impermanence, imperfection and transformation, echoing the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi – discovering beauty in the transient, fleeting nature of not only objects, but life itself. And as my work evolves, my vision is to continue exploring and expanding the creation of beauty and story by bringing to life the marriage of preservation and connectivity.