"The found items themselves inspire the pictures I create."

I owe my interest in found objects to some diverse influences: Childhood troves of seashells and rocks;  a touch of obsessive compulsion to pick up things that look out of place; my youngest daughter's metal collecting period which ingrained my habit of noticing interesting bits and pieces; a love of funky antiques; a commitment to reuse and repurpose.  I began to look for discards and envision what could be created from this unlikely material.

Walking my Old Oak Cliff neighborhood while living in Dallas yielded a bonanza of potential.  Moving to the Texas Hill Country, I was fascinated by the differences in what I could scavenge. My first work in this found media was a piece using only items from Gillespie County.  Since then I have done many single- provenance pieces.  I have collected metal from many parts of Texas and in far-flung locations including Hawaii, Europe, Australia, and Canada.  Friends and family have given me their finds.

The found items themselves inspire the pictures I create.  The final pieces wouldn't be possible without the carpentry skills of my husband who builds the bases I request and attaches each element exactly as I have laid out...unfazed by bent nails, barbed wire, armadillo shells, bicycle chains, or hubcaps!
 

Fredericksburg, Texas