My mother and aunt taught me to crochet when I was a child and I was so fascinated with creating something with my hands that I later taught myself to knit. In high school in 1961 my art teacher inspired me to go further with my creative work so I entered a contest for the cover to the Junior Vaudeville playbill. My entry took third place. What a thrill! My art and music classes in college only deepened by yearning for the arts.

While a young mother I discovered needlework, joined the Indianapolis Chapter of the Embroiders Guild in 1974 and was able to advance my needlework through classes. For the United States Bicentennial Year in1976 I needlepointed a piece depicting the history of African American in Indiana. My work hung in the Indiana State Museum for a year. I was also featured in the Indianapolis Star newspaper for my work.

Over the years I learned to do counted cross stitch, crewel, embroidery. In 2001 worked in the Japanese embroidery studio under Shuji Tamura, Master Craftsman and founder of the Japanese Embroidery Center in Atlanta, GA. For the past three years, I have studied Japanese Bunka embroidery in the studio of Lillian Vedder of Punta Gorda, FL. This year, I have a Japanese Bunka piece in a gallery in Venice, FL and exhibited two African pieces in the art gallery in Indianapolis, IN. I enjoy teaching my craft to anyone who is interested in learning.

In 1999, I borrowed my husband's camera to take photos of the exotic plants of the Bahamas to transfer onto canvas to stitch. I discovered the thrill of photography and my interest in that area took off from there. I found myself with the camera frequently and decided I needed to enroll in classes. I discovered a dear friend, John R. Gentry, Jr., a local photographer had such a class. He encouraged me to move from film to a digital Nikon D100.

I am the photographer for a community center in Indianapolis and a high school scholarship council and am excited about my work. I'm drawn to photograph people going about their day of working, playing, or relaxing.

I thank you for the time you spend viewing my work and hope you enjoy what you see.