7 Million Pounds Artwork

I'm a lover of animals and will stop and promptly proclaim my love to them on my daily walks past Amish farmland in Lancaster, PA. That being said, it's unlikely that you'll see animals or any connections to animals appear in my work. My work is driven by functionality and a deep, longstanding interest in textiles. I work in education, creating products to support K-12 teachers and students, and make art in the mornings, evenings, and weekends. Working alongside my educator brother, I illustrate books that support kids' imagination, spark their curiosity, and encourage them to see themselves as illustrators. My obsession with textiles and teaching came naturally to me from my grandmother, the textile part, and teaching, my mother. I've had a long string of job titles [ high school teacher, gallery owner, textile designer, compliance officer, continuing education director, adjunct professor, writer, professional development leader, director of product management, illustrator, artists] that were made possible because I'm confident that the throughline of all of my work is education and creativity. I've always loved creating objects that people can wear and hold. Even my work designed to be on a wall; I want people to touch it. Art is precious and precious things should be held. I remember walking through the mall with my grandmother, touching every article of clothing to understand how soft it was. IT HAD TO BE SOFT!! At 22 I started teaching high school art, which I loved; it also meant that I took a break from creating my artwork, with most of my time and energy focused on writing lesson plans, grading projects, and figuring out how to stay at least one day ahead of my jewelry and metals students. Ahh, I was teaching jewelry and metals to teenagers with torches, and I had never made jewelry. Missing my creative practice, I purchased a 36" Leclerc Floor loom. Enough time passed from when I learned to weave in college, I'd lost muscle memory and the knowledge of how to dress the loom, so I pulled a weaving book off my shelf and worked to follow the instructions. IT WAS A MESS. Ironically, years later, I wrote a children's book, The Weaving Book, that teaches kids the basics of weaving and how to think like an artist. Nothing was working, making me want to abandon weaving. But based on my salary, I'd invested a decent amount of money to purchase the loom, so I persevered.