Q: What inspires your art?
A: "I am often drawn to situations that incorporate both the beautiful and the repellent. There is an energy in that tension that drives me into the visual battleground and triggers a relentless effort to reconfigure and reinvent those opponents until they can coexist...a kind of artful mediation.

My work in the end looks like simple photographs of the human body with patterns and inscriptions pouring over them, but the process of getting there is a fairly complex one. I look everywhere for inspiration, usually finding it in the sciences, the arts and world cultural history. I have been interested in the history of science for years and spend a good bit of my time reading about everything from Isaac Newton's observations on light refraction to Brian Greene's consideration of string theory. I read and shoot images from the scientists' notebooks, which usually include samples of their writing and diagrams of their work. I particularly enjoy scrutinizing the insides of living creatures and objects with magnifiers and other visual enhancers to try to further understand how this world (and our perception of it) is constructed. I have befriended several scientists at Harvard, Brandeis and MIT who have helped me with this investigation by sharing their images of the human retina, allowing me to use their electron microscopes and helping me manipulate magnetic resonance patterns in the computer.

I also listen closely to the voices of other artists like James Turrell (light artist whose work glows in the GA Upper School), Twyla Tharp (dancer), Frank Gehry (architect), Philip Glass (musician) and Michael Ondaatje (writer), to name only a few."

Q: How did GA prepare you for your career in art?
A: "In lots of ways that I was not aware of at the time, GA gives us all a terrific liberal arts education, which we can then put together and narrow down in any way we like. The two subjects that made the deepest impression on me, not surprisingly, were math (Mrs. Austin-Small) and science. Art, drama, music and dance were equally compelling and clearly established a fertile ground for future germination. I remember taking dance classes with Mrs. Pethick and discovering that there was a curious relationship between the body and the floor, which could be challenged. She encouraged me to take additional classes in ballet, outside of school, which later evolved to include modern, jazz, African and Caribbean dance, along with classes in the history of movement. My understanding of movement from the inside out and my ability to choreograph now are extremely helpful when conducting a model shoot.

Besides fostering a well-rounded love of learning, GA also helped build strong study skills, which involve organizing related materials into a comprehensive whole, cultivating states of focused concentration and seeing projects through to completion. I am grateful for this preparation because I need each and every one of these skills every day in my studio."

Q: How did you train for your career after GA?
A: "I went to Skidmore College, and as soon as I realized I wanted to pursue a career in the arts, I transferred to Tufts University and the Boston Museum School, where I could be immersed in the fine arts while earning an academic degree. I spent the first fifteen years of my art career painting large-scale realistic paintings, which used all of the skills acquired at the Museum School.

By the 1990s, however, my needs as an artist had changed. Consciously, I began to redesign my creative process to incorporate more of the thinking I was doing. This is when I started researching various areas of interest in science and philosophy, shooting my now extensive slide collection and experimenting with new media. At this critical juncture, I began to supplement my education with a series of courses in graphic design, philosophy, physics and Photoshop.

I'm lucky to live in a town that has an endless supply of university resources. The field I've chosen is limitless in terms of the possible directions I can go in, and if I remain constantly open to learning new skills and trying a fresh approach. The thrill of discovery can be remarkably rewarding."

Q: What is your advice for students and alumnae interested in pursuing fine art as a career?
A: "You make that choice only if you are totally driven in that direction. I also think it's a good idea to have a back-up plan to cultivate an alternate skill or work capability. I say this because unlike most other fields in which advanced training and post-graduate degrees allow you to become an expert in your field, the arts have no guarantees. That uncertainty is coupled with frequent shifts in what is being celebrated currently. There also are very few slots at the top and thousands of expert applicants. If you don't mind working without societal affirmation and without financial compensation, then by all means, give it a go!

Having begun with a warning label, I need to say that I have found the arts to be a provocative and enriching career and would make the same choice again in a heartbeat. "