"I combine images and shapes like words in a poem, hoping to nourish the imagination, tease the rational mind and touch the emotions of my audience. Playing with abstract shapes, I explore how much visual information is needed to let people identify and name something. I want the imagery to be ambiguous enough to allow multiple levels of meaning.

Placing the sculptures in relation to one another in a installation intimates a story line. I like to create a situation that suggests an alternate reality. I often compose a sound track that speaks for the sculptures and claims the space as a separate unique setting.

I am inspired by animals, seed pods, shells, birds, human gestures and other natural phenomena. I admire the work of Arp. Miro, Calder, Martin Puryear, Barry Flanagan, James Surls, Niki de Saint Phalle and many others.


BIOGRAPHY

My father was a toy designer and I have always been interested in making things. When I graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in sculpture I won a traveling scholarship. This enabled me to see the great museums of Europe, cross the Sahara Desert and see African wood sculptures in Niger, Upper Volta and Ghana. These sculptures influenced me to continue working in wood after I graduated from the University of Illinios with an MFA in sculpture. When I moved to Houston I found that I could make a living designing furniture and creating statues for churches. My husband, Björn Andrén, and I have done just that in Florida for almost twenty years. I have also done several public art projects in Tampa and St. Petersburg with Björn's help.  I have always created unique sculptures in wood and have had some shows over the years. Now I am able to do this full time. I have begun creating herds, flocks and gatherings of sculptures; composing music to go with them and calling them installations. I hope my audience is having as much fun as I am.


SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Miaoli Wood Sculpture Museum, Sanyi, Taiwan ( 5 sculptures in the permanent collection)
TungHai University, TaiChung, Taiwan (“Flight of Mother Theresa”)
Tampa General Hospital (“Collected Memory”)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, ("Tango Solo")
The Ameriway Bank, Houston, TX, ("The Enfoldment")
The Mobile Oil Corporation, Stockholm, Sweden, ("Three Sisters")
The Northwood Institute. Collection, West Palm Beach, FL (“Wind in the Trees”)
HageGården Music Center, Edane, Sweden, ("Nyutsprungen")
City of Tampa, FL (“Underwater Ballet” and “Sunlight on the Lake”)
Tampa Water Dept., Tampa, FL “The Waterbearers” (bronze fountain )

PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS
City of St. Petersburg, FL, "The Enchanted Mangrove Forest", (Central Avenue) 1995
Hillsborough County, FL (Pavilion Floor and History Walk , Courthouse Square, downtown Tampa)
Hillsborough County, FL (“Litigation” sculpture, County Courthouse)

INSTALLATIONS
"The Mandala of the Holy Ones" installation - exhibited at the New Visions Conference -Houston, TX;
     Texas A&M University College Station, TX; a Unitarian church and a library in Dallas, TX.
     Acquired by World Peace Center, Lincoln, NE, 1987
"Ten Archetypes" installation - exhibited at The Sixth Texas Sculpture Symposium, San Antonio, TX;
     Rachel W. Davis Gallery; The Jung Center and an Episcopal Church in Houston.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Two Person Show, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Harris House, New Smyrna Beach, FL  November 2008
2008 Juried Exhibition, Brevard Art Museum, Melbourne, FL  Summer 2008
2007 Exchange Exhibition, Miaoli Wood Sculpture Museum, Sanyi, TAIWAN
     ( 11 of my sculptures exhibited)
51st FL Craftsman Exhibit, Broward Community College, Davie, FL , 2005
Florida Biennial, Deland Museum of Art, Deland, FL. , 2002
Two Person Show, Brad Cooper Gallery, Tampa, FL, 2002“
49th FL Craftsmen Exhibit, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, FL, Merit Award
Solo Exhibition at Donn Roll Gallery in Sarasota, FL, 1996
Two Person Show, B.I.G. Arts Center, Sanibel Island, FL , 1994 & 1992
Solo Exhibition, Modern Art Gallery, Sarasota, FL , 1994
1993 Annual Juried Exhibition, Orlando Museum of Art,
     Juror: Terrie Sultan, Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran    Gallery, Wash. D.C.
“Mixed Media” (a four person show) Northwood Institute, West Palm Beach, FL ,1991
Solo Exhibition, Old Government House, Augusta, GA , 1990
"7 NYA", Galleri Kretsen, Södertälje, Sweden , 1989
Solo Exhibit, Galleri Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
Spectrum South: The Malone & Hyde Collection "The Tenn. State Museum, Nashville, TN
"Three Artists, Three Playwrights, Three Doors" Rachel W. Davis Gallery, Houston, TX
"Art South" A Biennial Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture. Memphis, TN ,
Juror: John Canaday Best of Show in Sculpture. catalog
Solo Exhibition, University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
Solo Exhibition, Temple Junior College, Temple, TX
“Wood in Art", The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX catalog
"Doors - Houston Artists" Alley Theatre, Houston, TX catalog
Solo Exhibition, College of the Mainland, Texas City, TX

EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, 1974, Academic Fellowship

Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture ,The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1971 , Awarded “Helen Green Perry Traveling Scholarship” and traveled through Europe and West Africa (across the Sahara) looking at art and people.

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine. Summer, 1969 , Full scholarship.