Elusive Balance

Elusive Balance is a group show of Iowa Artist/Mothers, on view at PS1 Northside Gallery in Iowa City, IA.

March 14 - April 5, 2025

This exhibition explores the challenges of finding balance within artist and mother/caregiver identities. Since there is no one way to embody motherhood, this theme is open to broad interpretation, encompassing ideas of rest and productivity, contentment and overwhelm, stability and transition, responsibility and absurdity/play, and societal expectations vs. personal intuition. We are interested in how one finds personal balance or simply lets go of this elusive state, embracing or celebrating imbalance within life and art.

The piece I chose for this exhibit is called, “A Delicate Arrangement”. While my work isn’t directly speaking to the art of motherhood I have obviously been informed and influenced by becoming a mother. Mothering is a deeply creative act in itself, one that demands the ability to juggle multiple things at once. When you’re a person who requires time and space to yourself (in order to make your art) it’s extremely challenging to navigate the two roles. For many years I was creatively frustrated and exhausted to the brink of insanity, while also experiencing the incomparable JOY of birthing and raising my two babies.
In this piece I see two figures composed of stacks of shapes, one figure seems stable and solid while the other is connected to it for fear of falling. In dance I have learned that you have to lose your balance in order to find it. At the same time you have to be grounded and have a strong core in order to RISE UP (relevé). I think that’s a pretty good metaphor for so many things in life, parenting among them! My work is very much about finding balance and harmony: color, composition, combinations of materials… In fact I would like to let go of the need for balance much more often.

The Gardener


The Gardener (click link to see all works)

Group show at Kinhouse Gallery in Ft. Wayne, IN.

Curated by Kaylan Buteyn and Dana Caldera. On view March 7 - April 9, 2025

Inspired by the poem of the same title by Mary Oliver, The Gardener is a reflection on the garden and practices that encourage us to look, tend, cultivate, and slow down. There is magic in the balance of growing plants and embracing the wildness of the natural world. A practice in persistence, patience, and inter-dependency that we can all learn from the cycles of nature, whether through the emergence of a new spring flower, the beauty of the overgrown, or the nurturing of a garden through the seasons.

My piece is called, “Morning Garden Spirit”

A little art collab

I’m late on posting this, but Jeremy and I did a fun collaborative project this fall. We created an original piece of art for the Refocus Film Festival poster! The theme of this local film fest is “Adaptation”, and we decided to use cut paper as our medium. Here are some shots from the process and the final poster design. This festival takes place in Iowa City every October- a good reason to visit!

beginning phase of cutting

We tossed the original blue piece and started over. Here we are playing with background options.

Gluing down little pieces. We did a lot of work on the floor because it was easier to move things around.

The final design!

Serious Play ~ a Dialogue with Color, Pattern, and Form

Some glimpses of my current solo show at Memorial Union Gallery, Iowa State University. These are all works completed during the pandemic: 2020-23

It made me so happy to see all my new work in this beautiful space. It felt like a real gallery exhibit!

Here are a group of lovely local artist-mamas who showed up to support me, which felt great. Community is so important!

Found and Formed: materials in conversation

Current exhibition of new mixed media works by myself and fellow artist-mother, Emily Jalinsky. Porch Light Literary Arts Center is a wonderful space for writers and artists to gather- run by Jenny Colville in Iowa City.

Greater Des Moines Exhibited

Honored to have a painting in this recent show.

This is the Polk County Heritage Gallery ~ gorgeous space that used to be the Post Office.

Here is a photo of the piece up close ~ acrylic and mixed media on canvas.

Art in the Time of Covid

2020 was a challenging year for art-making. When it became clear that our kids weren’t going back to school any time soon I decided to put art on the back burner and focus on family; helping our son and daughter navigate homeschool and keeping everyone safe and healthy. My studio is filled with unfinished paintings, and I’ve made peace with the fact that I won’t publish a cohesive body of work until later this year. I’m grateful for the ability to be home with my kids because it won’t be long until they leave the nest. That said, I thought it would be good to share a few of the creative things we did during this past year.