Artist Statement- Poetry and Art

Artist Mission Statement
Heart of a Poet --- Eyes of an Artist! I see the world through a lens of creation filtered through my imagination. I am a picture maker that needs to create on an everyday basis in some form or another. My muse is life itself in all its entirety. Small moments inspire me to fill space with words of flow, and memories paint a canvas of creation.


Biography
I am a poet and multi-media artist living in the St Croix Valley with my daughter Willow. My poetic writings and artistic touches reflect my Ojibwe heritage along with the ponderings I have being a forty something American woman living with the progression of Multiple Sclerosis. Often, I integrate poetry with my artistic expressions.

Literature was the first creative form that woke my inner need to create. When I was a girl, my imagination would play rewriting the ends of stories and creating new worlds. As a teenager, I feed my creative need through the lens of an old 35. Photography and beading were my main means of expression while, I dabbled in drawing and poetry.  Then in college I dove deeper into photography and gained more skill with beads. I took classes in dance and painting. I began to paint with oils and learned a little technique. After school, I continued  creatively expressing myself primarily through photography and bead work. 

In my early thirties, I returned to the power of words with poetry. I continued creating as pictures formed though lens and brush; eventually, combining them with poetry in one piece. Today,  I take my photos with a digital 35 continuing my passion for photography and adding another layer with digital art. I paint, bead, weave dreamcatchers, sew creations, and do crafts of all sorts with many materials. Often, I blend 2 or more forms together into an installation. I usually have at least two projects underway besides my daily need to write poetry. I am a poet and artist expressing my thoughts and perceptions as they grow from ideas into poems and visual creations. 


As I walk 
beats of artistic thought
move my muses to dance 
 in rhythms of creative flow
words meet vibrant strokes
canvases fill as stanzas build
spinning poems 
capturing moments in design
needs and dreams fulfill
I share my voice 
with you.