I am an artist and natural dyer. I make unique, small-batch textiles for the home and body using foraged plants, flowers, and organic botanical dyes. I received a BFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2008.

My practice involves a variety of activities exploring traditional textile processes (including batik and shibori with natural indigo and other natural vat dyes, eco-printing, monoprinting, painting, and spinning & weaving wool). All fibers are natural and organic/local where possible;  organic cotton, khadi cotton (hand-spun and hand-woven), linen, bamboo, raw and wild silk, and local wool.

I mindfully collect weeds, leaves, nuts, bark and wildflowers from along roadsides, abandoned urban lots, my own backyard and from my own kitchen waste to use as natural dyes and inks. This way of working aligns with my values of caring for the Earth, connecting to the vast history and community of textile artists, and with my current place in life as a mom with a young child: an attempt to create an art practice that is one seamless, endless collaboration with my daily life. 

And at the heart of my work is a deep, deep love of color. There is an incredible wealth of color potential to be found all around us, and I am deeply interested in the spiritual implications of uncovering and discovering the inherent beauty in that which has been discarded, abandoned, overlooked, unloved. There is a poetry about working within the rhythms of each season and the Earth’s shifting cycles— a humbling and gentle reminder of our fragile physicality wandering these vast, wild landscapes (both real & imagined, architectural & natural, spiritual & profane, mind & body).  It is in this spirit of curiosity and exploration that my practice is most rooted; pondering the beauty and mystery of color and cloth, and how our experiences of them are informed by their subjective meanings.