When did you become a McGuffey member?

I came to Charlottesville in 1981 to be with my soon to be husband, John Casey. I needed a place of my own as a refuge from a life that would otherwise be centered on the English Department at UVA and found McGuffey. I left McGuffey in 2014

What is your medium?

The history of the alphabet and the shaping of letters was the starting point for observing how form and language change over time and that study became the underpinning for ways to think about art making. Rubber, steel and silk brushes, paint, cardboard and cloth, sticks and stones, needle and thread, plumber’s pipe, acrylic and oil paint are some of the tools and materials I encountered along the way, but it was always the idea that preceded the medium.

Has your inspiration changed over time?

My work over time shows a number of evolving themes.  But there is a core belief that underlies my way of working: a respect for formal craft combined with the necessity to seek freedom from it. 

What is your favorite memory from MAC?

I have two. Attending a conference of Art Centers from all over America in Washington DC while I was president of McGuffey in the 90’s, and realizing how rare an institution McGuffey was and is. At that time many similar art centers all over the country were being shut down by real estate and economic pressures and forced to give up working studio space to showcase retail studios and events space managed by a board of private donors. We are unique in having such generous city support and being able to maintain reasonable rental rates for working artists so consistently over time. 

Why is McGuffey Important?

Another favorite memory and one more reason McGuffey is important. From 2005 to 2007 I launched the Spotlight Series at McGuffey. I chose a theme each month: What is Authenticity? Truth-Telling in Photography, Improvisation, How Ideas Emerge in Art and Science, The Art of Film Casting, Music and Art, Politics in Art, to name a few. The people on the panels were from the Charlottesville community and from UVA. It served as a great bridge between our two communities. 

What challenges did you face at the start of your career?

Art is a constant challenge. That is why we do it. It’s solving one problem at a time, from the practical and technical to the minutiae of aesthetic choices made in the moments of creation.

What themes or messages do you explore in your art practice?

Most recently in the past ten years, my figurative oil paintings have explored the stranglehold of our digital world; rising waters; what happens after the deluge.  An installation called Mapping the Dark: A Museum of Ambient Disorders was an exploration of personal circumstances that drive art making as conceived by ten fictional characters. Two later installations:  Men in Suits (a stations-of-the-cross display of images insinuating a moral teaching within the halls of power), Catch the Baby (an installation inviting the public in to perform a frictionless method of conversation-making with a chosen partner using a game device).

Are there any unique techniques you’ve developed over time?

My favorite was a tool for applying wide 360-degree range-of-motion swaths of paint onto a glass surface - made of steel, garage door weather stripping, silk, hair ties and a paint stirrer. You had to be there. 

Was there a defining moment in your art career that led you to where you are?

A defining moment was probably the installation I mentioned above, Mapping the Dark: A Museum of Ambient Disorders, and its accompanying box set of ten books, a work I spent five years on. It generated a sale to the National Gallery of Art, a play I wrote based on the characters in the work which was produced by Live Arts in 2011, and a mixed media course I taught for many years after called Mapping the Dark. 

What themes or messages do you explore in your art practice?

Most recently in the past ten years, my figurative oil paintings have explored the stranglehold of our digital world; rising waters; what happens after the deluge.  An installation called Mapping the Dark: A Museum of Ambient Disorders was an exploration of personal circumstances that drive art making as conceived by ten fictional characters. Two later installations:  Men in Suits (a stations-of-the-cross display of images insinuating a moral teaching within the halls of power), Catch the Baby (an installation inviting the public in to perform a frictionless method of conversation-making with a chosen partner using a game device).

Are there any unique techniques you’ve developed over time?

My favorite was a tool for applying wide 360-degree range-of-motion swaths of paint onto a glass surface - made of steel, garage door weather stripping, silk, hair ties and a paint stirrer. You had to be there. 

Was there a defining moment in your art career that led you to where you are.

A defining moment was probably the installation I mentioned above, Mapping the Dark: A Museum of Ambient Disorders, and its accompanying box set of ten books, a work I spent five years on. It generated a sale to the National Gallery of Art, a play I wrote based on the characters in the work which was produced by Live Arts in 2011, and a mixed media course I taught for many years after called Mapping the Dark. 

Did you have traditional training or were you self-taught?

I attended two art schools graduating with a BFA from the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts and also studied independently the art and history of letter forms. 

What would an ideal day in the studio look like?

2.5 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours in the afternoon. Alone and undistracted.

Is there anything creative you are working on right now?

I am finishing an addition to the studio which will include a storage area for my work and an upstairs bedroom/gallery space. Eager to get back in the studio. 

What do you most like about being an artist?

Everything. The space and freedom to unravel what drives meaning in my life. The hand and the mind working together reveal things the mind can never do alone.

What advice would you give to young artists?

Set an example no one else can follow.