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I was born in Berlin, Germany and came to the US at the age of 11. Growing up along the coast of South Carolina is where my love for nature was cultivated. The marshes and beaches, live oak trees draped in Spanish moss, pelicans flying across the skies and blue herons and egrets lingering along the marshes colored my daily life. It wasn't until I returned to Berlin in my mid 20's that I realized through their absence how vital they were to my being.
During the first 10 years of my return to Berlin I worked for various international concerns, having earned a BS in Business Administration during my time in South Carolina. I arrived just when The Wall came down and re-unification was taking place, it was an exciting and turbulent time. But eventually I began to miss the vast expanses of nature that I had been surrounded by in South Carolina and over the years I also felt that something else more fundamental was lacking in my life as well. Through the practice of yoga I began to understand what that was and I embarked on a 'spiritual quest' that took me to India where I spent the greater part of 5 years traveling and learning yoga and yoga philosophy. I visited ashrams, temples and sacred sites, and immersed myself deeply into India and her culture. During my time in Berlin I would also visit my family in the US and often we would come to the Southwest for camping and hiking trips. The landscape of the Southwest spoke strongly to that part of my being which craved more space and nature, and this is how I came to live and stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That was in 2010 and it is here where I came to the art of printmaking through the Community College of Santa Fe. My first 4 years though were spent in the Fine Woodworking Department of the college where I earned a Certificate in Fine Woodworking. From there I made my way to the Printmaking and Arts Department where I earned an Associates Degree in Fine Arts, focusing on Printmaking and Painting. In the meantime I have my own studio and etching press and my love for nature is lived in this high dessert environment of New Mexico, where the colors and shapes of the stone formations, the smells of the vegetation, and especially the vast open sky with its impressive clouds are a constant inspiration. As the print on this page shows, I especially like to use local plant material for the pieces. Most of the prints are relief prints, but there are also lithography and letterpress pieces, as well as some etchings and pieces made with alternative processes using solar plates and cyanotypes for example. I also have begun to experiment with collage. |
On the Chamisa Trail in Santa Fe, NM
Along the Santa Fe River
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