My Story
I am a painter, printmaker, a teacher, a dog-lover, a wife and mother, and an enthusiastic traveller with over 40 years experience as a professional artist.
I studied a degree in Printmaking at the University of Santa Cruz, California, before training at the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute. I also have a Masters in Drawing as Process from Kingston University. For many years, I was a portrait painter, mainly of humans, but also of their canine companions, and I still happily take on commissions.
But most of my work now is about capturing a sense of place.
Originally from California, I’ve been privileged to live overseas for most of my life and I love to travel. I draw inspiration from the world around me and try to distill my experience of people and places in my painting.
Based in Bahrain for 8 years, Lebanon, Oman, Jordan, Qatar, Israel and Palestine, the Emirates, Fujairah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Egypt and, most poignantly, Syria were all on our doorstep. Not much farther were Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Ethiopia and Kenya.
I explored them all with my sketchbook and camera, and was almost overwhelmed by the visual stimulus, the beauty and the colour. But more significantly, I was welcomed so warmly by people who live on so little and whose lives are so full of joy and dignity, and I was deeply moved by them. Also, people whose histories had been torn apart by conflict and political upheaval, who simply get on with life.
If there is any purpose in my work, it is to highlight this humbling experience and to show respect to people like the camel herders of Ethiopia or the mango sellers in India, whose lives are so rich and who leave such a small footprint on the earth.
Now that I am living in England again, Richmond Park , the south downs and the south coast are huge inspirations to me. I believe that artwork can be a force for good in the world. Both through doing it and seeing it, it can change perceptions in tiny but powerful ways…
Education:
MA, Drawing as Process, 2001-2003, Kingston University, London
BA, Fine Arts, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1975
Exhibitions:
Sussex Watercolour Society, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“Visions”, Bahrain Art Centre,2009 , 2010 and 2012
"In Celebration of Women", World Beat Gallery, Janabiya, Bahrain, Oct/ Nov. 2011
"African Sanctus", Crowne Plaza Convention Centre and Sar Art Space, June 2010
"7 Days in Kerala", Albareh Gallery, June 2010
“A Beautiful Mess”, Al Riwaq Gallery, July, 2009
“Arthouse” , Banyan Tree, Bahrain, May 2009
“Jazz”, Upstairs, Downstairs, Manama , May 2008
The Malden Centre, New Malden, UK, 2000, 2002, 2004
Bahrain International Garden Show, 2006, 2007, 2008
“O Fortuna”, 4 artists response to music, Seef Mall, May 2007
“Torr, Mallen, Maddison”, The Old Post Office Gallery, Wimbledon, UK, 2007
Kingston Open (juried show) 2002, 2003, 2004
Stanley Picker Gallery, Kingston 2003
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, 2001, 2002
"A Year in Richmond Park” Pembroke Lodge, London 1999
“New Printmakers”,San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
And numerous group shows in California, Washington, DC, and the UK.
Participated in Open Studios and Artists Open houses in San Francisco, Washington, DC, Bahrain, and London and Brighton in the UK .
Murals and Public Commissions:
“Bahrain International Mobility Center” mural, Isa Town, Kingdom of Bahrain, 2019
“The Bottle-Top project”, Doha, Qatar. A 36’ x 8’ awareness-raising mural made entirely of plastic bottle tops, depicting the ecosystem of Qatar.
"The Peace Tree", Moda Mall, 2011 A piece to for Bahrainis to reflect on what peace means to them, during the Arab Spring uprisings.(temporary installation. All other works are still in situ.)
"The Reading Tree" Pakistan School LIbrary, Bahrain, 2011
“Medico Dispensario de Dr. Ernesto Guevara”, mural for a clinic in a community outside Tijuana, Mexico, 2008
“1001 Arabian Nights, a Literary Landscape” Redwood City Library Mural : 2006
“The Mer-Angel”, New Malden Art Center, 20 foot long mural commemorating a beloved swimming teacher. 2004
“Women of Kingston”, The Shiraz Mirza Pavilion Mural: an 18 foot long painting celebrating the borough of Kingston, its first Asian mayor, and the wonderful women who inhabit the borough. 2003
Portrait Commissions
Portraiture had been a constant theme in my work for about 25 years, often to the exclusion of all other work. I have been privileged to paint members of both the British and Bahraini royal families, Members of Parliament in the UK, actors and directors of import and best of all, many happy families, children and even their dogs and cats.
Teaching
Since 1990, teaching painting and drawing has been an important and inspiring part of my artistic practice.
1990-2003 : Kingston Adult Education College. I taught drawing, life drawing, watercolour and acrylic painting..
2003-2005: Kingston University, I ran workshops for other MA students in experimental drawing, and taught life drawing to under-graduates.
2005-2013: Upon arriving in Bahrain I started AwaliArts, a small independent art school, specialising in figurative arts through drawing, watercolour and acrylic.
2009-2013: Lecturer in Art and Design, Bahrain Polytechnic
2010-2013: Odyssey Art at Sea instructor, teaching painting classes on 4 Cruises of the Crystal Serenity
2014- present: run workshops and courses independently in California, England and Bahrain
2017-present: Part time tutor for the Santa Cruz Art League
During the Covid-19 restrictions, I taught two classes a week online in watercolour and mixed media work to an engaged and enthusiastic group of artists from all over the world.
I am delighted to be teaching in person classes and workshops now at my studio in Stanmer Craft Museum, The Garden House, and Sussex Prairie Garden.