I am an artist and writer based in Milwaukee exploring the crossroads between art, science, and play. The scientist in me longs to uncover secrets of the patterns and relationships among living forms. The artist in me strives to reimagine them.
With a background in physics and a love of botany, I blend scientific inquiry with artistic expression to explore unnoticed subtleties of the natural world. As a gardener and nature explorer, I am constantly inspired by the intricate patterns and vibrant colors observed in nature, both in the urban setting where I live and beyond. My interdisciplinary approach blends drawing, painting, textiles, and collage as well as microscopy, research and field collection. My approach involves sensing, sampling, testing, reinterpreting, and emotionally processing the natural forms I observe.
I am inspired by things like:
- microscopic blobs of life observed under the microscope
- bright bursts of ephemeral flowers emerging in spring after a gray winter
- intricate and complex shapes of seeds and other plant parts
- the surprising adaptations that plants and other forms of life have for surviving their always-shifting environments
My work has been featured in Sea Heart / Beach Garbage at the Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts. I also write articles on plants and other life forms on my website, Floral Prisms, that blend elements of science, ethnobotany, poetry, and art. Beyond the studio, I serve as Assistant Director of the UWM Planetarium. Nature has some amazing stories to tell if we only listen. Through my work, I hope to spark curiosity, invite wonder, and connect with real, pulsing life–the plants, the bugs, the bees, and each other.
Things and Stuff
Sea Heart / Beach Garbage
Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts
January – March 2025
Sea Heart / Beach Garbage was a collection of doodles I made during winter when colors are rare and visible life even rarer. Inspired by plants visited under microscopes, beachcombing, and hoarding tendencies as well as a desire to color in lines of my own creation, this exhibit was an adult coloring book written by lonely amoebas reaching for signs of spring.
UW-Milwaukee Greenhouse
2018 – Present
The UWM Greenhouse is a magical place. I began volunteering there after becoming a UWM employee in 2018. The Greenhouse showcases biodiverse species representing the full evolutionary spectrum, from primitive mosses and liverworts to cycads to flowering plants. Rooms with different habitats, including desert and tropical, house nearly 700 plant species of over 110 plant families, including several that are rare or endangered in the wild. The collection has been maintained for more than 50 years and includes plants obtained from the wild, trades with other universities or conservatories, and seeds.
Alice’s Garden Urban Farm
2016 – 2024
Some of my best moments were spent at Alice’s Garden, a community garden at the center of Milwaukee broaching diverse and segregated neighborhoods. My mother and I rented plots there for many years, growing everything from sweet potatoes to garlic to artichokes. We were are often referred to as the “farmers” because of our many vegetable, herb, and flower plots. Alice’s Garden is a social intersection where many different people enjoy a shared appreciation of life, food, and plants in a welcoming space. In 2021, I held Grow Curious workshops there to have fun playing in the garden.