I have always been creative in whatever I do.
The mediums which have stayed with me are photography and Collage. From an early age, I had a camera in my hands and would eagerly wait for my black and white brownie box camera prints to be returned to me by mail.
I attended Rochester Institute of Technology as a Fine Art Major with a photography minor. There I learned to compose the finished image in the camera’s view finder. The image you see is what I saw and captured unedited on slide and print negative films. When there was no more money to attend college, I went to New York City and continued my education in the fashion world with the professional photographers I worked with.
With the advent of digital photography, there is much that can be done to alter or enhance an image. For the most part, I do not do that. What you see is what I saw and captured. I love it when all the elements combine and transcends normal reality. I had never really understood abstract art. Yet as my sensibilities have progressed, I have seen more abstracts and am drawn to capture what I see. Hence, the name of my business; “Pho~Real Imaginings”. My favorite compliment about my photographs is that they look like paintings. There are also those who comment that the image is beautiful, and I should paint it. I am not a painter. I am a photographer with a painter’s eye. Art expresses what reality cannot.
For Collage, I was introduced to what was called a treasure map back in the 70’s. Since then, I have learned of similar processes, termed vision boards or Soul collages. Whatever the term is, they are a manifestation tool to take what is in the head and heart, find images that represent them and paste on a board to materialize that vision. When I first started, I did one annually for a New Years proposal of what I hoped to manifest. People wanted to buy them, but they were too personal. My friends suggested that I make ones that I would be willing to sell. And thus, I have a body of work of collages since the 90’s.
Perhaps a studio visit is in order.
Personal Profile
Born: April 12, 1951, Rochester, N.Y.
Education: 1969-1971 Rochester Inst. of Technology, Assoc. Fine Art.
Fashion Model:
Agencies: 1971-1985 Stewart Models, New York City.
Ford Models, New York City; Nina Blanchard Models,
Los Angeles; Elite Fashion Models, Paris; Agency Fabienne, Paris, France.
Covers: Seventeen; Redbook; Elle; Buttrick Patterns; Hair Today, Viva
Television: Love Boat; Merve Griffin; The Today Show New York Times Weekend
Commercial Publications: Redbook; Glamour; Seventeen; Mademoiselle; Ingenue;
Good Housekeeping; American Vogue; French Vogue, English Vogue; Viva; Freuindien, Marie Claire; Elle; Jour du France
Designers: Ralph Lauren; John Anthony; Emanuel Kahn; Oscar DeLaurenti; Donna Karen; Mary
McFadden; Betsy Johnson; St. Laurent; Givenchy; Armani; Chanel ; Valentino; Zandra Rhodes
River Guide:
1977-1985 Arizona Raft Adventures, Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, Arizona.
Photography: "Watercolors" intimate photographs of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River.
Published as calendars and book covers. Limited edition photographs sold to private collectors.
Photographic Shows:
Gallery 57 West, New York City; City Front Café, New York City; 2 West, New York City
Honey Sharp Gallery, Lenox, Massachusetts
Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts, Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Thomas Gallery, Taos Center for the Arts, Taos, New Mexico
Laguna Beach Art Gallery, California
Taos Fall Arts Festival
Recycled at the Stables Gallery, Sliver
Gallery, Hilcrest Bank, Wildflower Gallery, Barra Vino, New Mexico Cancer Center
Assoc. Editor: 1993-1995 "The Cryer" a monthly art, entertainment, and holistic health guide to the Rocky Mountains.
Distribution:
Aspen, Roaring Fork Valley, Vail, Beaver Creek, Avon, Steamboat Springs, Grand Junction, Grand Mesa Valley, Telluride, Crested Butte, Leadville, etc.
Wholistic Practitioner Training:
1980 -91 The Bear Tribe Medicine Society Apprentice and Regional Coordinator: Conscious Living
1980-83 Sweat lodge training with Wallace Black Elk
1985 Reflexology, Laura Norman and Associates
Touch for Health, Level I, The New School
Certification & Training:
1985 Touch for Health, Level II, Paula Olesca
1987 Touch for Health, Level II, Raymond Viggre
1988-92 Lynn Andrews Clan of the Whistling Elk Apprentice: Guided
1990 Bach Flower Remedies, Bach School
1991 Neuro Linguistic Programming, Practitioner
1993 Neuro Linguistic Programming, Master Practitioner
1993- 94 Toltec Shamanism with Jose and Lena Stevens, Advanced two year study group, Dietas, assisting and advanced programs, Michael Archetypes
1995-97 Journey To The Boundless, Primordial Sound Meditation
Training in Mind Body Medicine & Ayurveda, Seduction of Spirit with Deepak Chopra
1995- 07 Studies with Carolyn Myss: Sacred Contracts, Why People
Don’t Heal, Archetypical Wheel, Medical Intuitive Training
2000-2 Cranial Sacral Level I, II Kathy McNerney, Todd Weldon
2000- 5 Reconnective Therapy with Herwig Shoen
2003-6 Sound Healing with Tibetan Instruments with Richard Rudis
Sound Healing with Johnathan Goodman
Private Practice:
1986 – 1991 Great Barrington, Massachusetts
1991- 2006 Aspen, Colorado
2006-2025 Taos, New Mexico
Individual, Family and Grief Counseling; Homeopathic Consultations; Bach Flower Remedy and
Peralandra Essence Consultations, Aura Soma sessions and products, Attunements with Tibetan bowls,
Gantas and Ting haws Therapeutic Bodywork: Acupressure, Applied Kinesiology, Cranial Sacral, Polarity,
Reflexology, Reconnective Therapy, Therapeutic Touch, in addition to Aroma Therapy, Color, and Light
Positions:
Consultant: 1995-8 Aspen Drug: Homeopathic Consultant, Naturopathic Advisor and Display.
Editor 2000-2 Healix Magazine
Healthy Living Editor 2004-6 The Healthy Planet; Aspen Edition
Moderator 1998-07 Myss List on Yahoo, based on the body of Caroline Myss’s
work and teachings. Online discussions
Tapestry 2000-6 Seminar & workshop host of Spiritual Healers & Teachers
Radio Talk Show 1996-97 W.A.L.E.1 hour program, Wholistic concepts, and
Philosophy, Interviews: Dr. Jacob Lieberman ~ healing with light.
Dr. Stephen Hinkey ~ Network Chiropractic