Works
My work emerges from observation, relationship, and return. Inspired by Japanese textile traditions and the living world of the Sonoran Desert, these pieces explore place, transition, belonging, and home. Through stitch, indigo, and cloth, I explore the deeper truths that reveal themselves slowly when I pause, pay attention, and return.
Looking East
Inspired by the eastern horizon beyond my studio, these works reflect my ongoing practice of observation and return. Moonrise, changing light, familiar forms, and fleeting moments became opportunities to look more closely and to discover what reveals itself over time. Together, they explore the relationship between attention, place, and belonging.
Rincon Moonrise
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Inspired by repeated observations of the full moon rising over the mountains east of my home, this piece emerged from a practice of returning to the same horizon again and again.
Over time, the moon and mountains became more than a landscape. The moon's continual return and changing phases contrasted with the enduring presence of the mountains, creating a quiet conversation between cyclical time and place. This piece reflects my growing understanding that familiar things reveal themselves differently when we return often enough to see them anew. |
Full Moon
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This piece began as a study of the moon itself. Over time, it became an exploration of how sustained attention reveals complexity within something that initially appears simple.
The moon appears simple from a distance. Closer observation reveals subtle variations, texture, and change. The piece reflects my belief that understanding deepens when I slow down and spend time with what is familiar. More than seventy-five lines of mokume stitching were used to create the surface of the moon. As each stitched line was gathered and the cloth repeatedly immersed in natural indigo, the image gradually emerged through the interaction of stitch, cloth, dye, and time. |
Owl in Full Moon
Encounter
One evening while watching the full moon rise beyond my home, I noticed an owl perched on a utility line, framed against the moon. The moment was brief, but it stayed with me long after the owl disappeared into the darkness.
Return
What began as a fleeting encounter became a lasting memory. Returning to the subject over time allowed me to explore not only a specific moment, but also my changing relationship with it. The owl, moon, and night sky felt connected in a way that seemed simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary.
These pieces reflect a moment of connection between two familiar companions of the desert night. They serve as a reminder that some of the most meaningful discoveries occur in places we return to repeatedly, where familiarity creates space for surprise.
Together, they reflect my growing understanding that returning to the same subject often reveals something new. The owl did not change. My way of seeing it did.
One evening while watching the full moon rise beyond my home, I noticed an owl perched on a utility line, framed against the moon. The moment was brief, but it stayed with me long after the owl disappeared into the darkness.
Return
What began as a fleeting encounter became a lasting memory. Returning to the subject over time allowed me to explore not only a specific moment, but also my changing relationship with it. The owl, moon, and night sky felt connected in a way that seemed simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary.
These pieces reflect a moment of connection between two familiar companions of the desert night. They serve as a reminder that some of the most meaningful discoveries occur in places we return to repeatedly, where familiarity creates space for surprise.
Together, they reflect my growing understanding that returning to the same subject often reveals something new. The owl did not change. My way of seeing it did.
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Owl in Full Moon I Among the many pieces I have created since beginning my shibori journey in 2022, this remains one of the most personally significant. It was my first truly ambitious stitched work and the piece that most clearly marked the transition from learning a technique to discovering an artistic voice shaped by observation, relationship, and the living world around me. |
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Owl and Full Moon II
A more direct interpretation in which the owl becomes the central presence within the composition, reflecting how the memory itself grew clearer and more defined over time. |
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Winter Mesquite
The mesquite trees surrounding my home are among the most familiar companions on my daily walks. In winter, their leaves disappear and their branching forms become fully visible against the sky. What initially appears bare or dormant reveals quiet strength, resilience, and character.
Inspired by those winter silhouettes and the full moon rising above the desert, this piece reflects a relationship that deepened through repeated observation. The mesquite became a reminder that familiarity does not diminish wonder. With time and attention, familiar things often reveal their deepest character.
Like many of my works, Winter Mesquite grew from returning to the same place again and again. The tree became a reminder that resilience is not about remaining unchanged, but about adapting, continuing, and finding new ways to grow.
Inspired by those winter silhouettes and the full moon rising above the desert, this piece reflects a relationship that deepened through repeated observation. The mesquite became a reminder that familiarity does not diminish wonder. With time and attention, familiar things often reveal their deepest character.
Like many of my works, Winter Mesquite grew from returning to the same place again and again. The tree became a reminder that resilience is not about remaining unchanged, but about adapting, continuing, and finding new ways to grow.
Queen of the Night and Full Moon
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Inspired by the night-blooming cereus cactus, a flower that blooms for a single evening before fading by morning. Although I had never witnessed a bloom in person, I was drawn to the anticipation surrounding its brief appearance and the way it invites attention and wonder.
Created using familiar stitching techniques in an unfamiliar way, this piece explores impermanence, observation, and the beauty of what reveals itself only briefly. The Queen of the Night serves as a reminder that some things cannot be hurried or held. They arrive in their own time and ask only that we be present enough to notice. 
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Desert Companions
Cholla
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The jumping cholla growing near my studio is one of the Sonoran Desert's most challenging and fascinating plants. Its barbed joints readily attach to anyone who brushes against it, yet those same defenses provide shelter and protection for desert animals, including pack rats that build nests among its fallen segments.
Over time, I became fascinated by its branching structure, resilience, and role within the desert community. What first appeared hostile revealed a more complex story of adaptation, protection, and relationship. This piece is not intended as a botanical study, but as a reflection on a familiar desert companion whose character revealed itself once I moved beyond first impressions and became willing to see it differently. 
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Transitions
Some pieces begin with observation. Others begin with a question.
The works in this series emerged through curiosity, experimentation, and a willingness to move beyond familiar processes. Repeated forms, folded structures, open space, and unexpected outcomes became ways of exploring presence and absence, time and movement, boundaries and connection.
Rather than depicting the visible world, these pieces examine the relationships that shape our experience of it. Together they reflect an ongoing exploration of uncertainty, emergence, and the meanings that become visible when we remain open to what we do not yet know.
The works in this series emerged through curiosity, experimentation, and a willingness to move beyond familiar processes. Repeated forms, folded structures, open space, and unexpected outcomes became ways of exploring presence and absence, time and movement, boundaries and connection.
Rather than depicting the visible world, these pieces examine the relationships that shape our experience of it. Together they reflect an ongoing exploration of uncertainty, emergence, and the meanings that become visible when we remain open to what we do not yet know.
Boundaries
A circle suggests wholeness, continuity, and return. The vertical band interrupts that continuity, creating a relationship between separation and connection.
What interests me most is the tension between the two forms. The band divides the circle while simultaneously linking the spaces it creates. Rather than resolving the relationship, the piece invites viewers to consider the ways boundaries can both separate and connect.
Moon and Void
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This piece began with a simple question: What happens when part of the moon is absent?
Over time, I became less interested in the circle itself and more interested in the space it enclosed. The dark center carries as much visual weight as the stitched form surrounding it. The piece explores presence and absence, fullness and incompleteness, and the ways meaning can emerge through what is left open rather than what is fully defined. 
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Boundary
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Created using repeated ne-maki forms, this piece explores the relationship between movement and boundary.
My attention gradually shifted from the individual forms to the space they define. The repeated forms establish an edge, yet the boundary they create remains open and permeable. The piece reflects an interest in the ways boundaries can guide, shape, and connect rather than simply contain. 
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Time
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This piece emerged from a series of repeated forms arranged along a meandering path. Over time, I began to see the individual forms as moments connected across a larger journey.
Each moment is distinct, yet none exists in isolation. The spaces between them are as important as the forms themselves. The piece reflects my understanding of time as both structured and permeable, shaped as much by connection and relationship as by sequence. 
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Emergence
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What began with a familiar folding pattern became something unexpected.
As the cloth unfolded, forms appeared that suggested relationships and images I had not anticipated. Rather than following a predetermined destination, the process felt more like walking a familiar path and suddenly noticing something that had been there all along. The piece reflects the ways discovery can emerge through curiosity, attention, and a willingness to remain open to surprise. |
Crossing
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Using both intentional and intuitive folds, this piece revealed itself as it emerged from the indigo vat. Strong diagonal forms create a sense of movement and direction, while subtle squares and diamonds emerge beneath the surface, establishing an underlying structure.
I am drawn to the tension between these elements. The piece reminds me that movement does not require the absence of order. Sometimes structure and change coexist, each helping define the other. |
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