​Born in New Zealand, I moved to Scotland in 1989 and then to the United States in 2000 and am now back in New Zealand. In all locations, art and being in nature have been part of my life. 

 

My creative, rural, upbringing: gardening, milking cows, building fires, and bricolage of all sorts (brewing concoctions from plants to building tree-huts), has combined with a profound concern for the environment, a love of texture, colour and pattern. 

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My investigation of the potential of art objects, and nature as subject and matter, has meant that the line between nature and art is now almost nonexistent. I am constantly negotiating the boundary between imposing action and reacting to nature's wildness.  As a result, I have come to realise that my role is that of a facilitator, a recorder, an active participant in nature representing itself.  I set parameters and initiate material intersections, then I am engaged in a relationship with how the materials assert themselves and move beyond the imposed limitations. 

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I have a BFA in Drawing and Painting and an MFA in Visual Arts and have taught budding artists of all ages and all abilities. I worked at the New Hampshire Institute of Art for 9 years as faculty, Chairperson of Painting and finally as the Dean of Graduate Studies. I've owned a clothing and home goods business which included a retail space. www.refindanddefind.com