Hello,
I am a mother and the child of artists, farmers, and mental health workers. I work as an environmental scientist for CA State Parks and spent 25 years as an environmental artist and educator. Independent projects include Farm Unfixed, an Ozark-based ecological science teen internship and Block Stewards with Julie Coffey, a neighborhood project focused on native forb trials in urban parkways.
As an environmental scientist in Southern California, I work on native habitat restoration and wildfire management planning with a special interest in land access for local tribal members. My ecological research has focused on post-fire resiliency and fire severity in coastal sage scrub habitat.
As an artist, my recent exhibitions include the mid-career survey Fruiting Bodies (2019-20, Descanso Gardens) and a better nectar about the symbiosis between bumblebees and the plants they pollinate (2014-2016, University Art Museum, CSU-Long Beach; Gillespie Science Museum, College of the Canyons, The College of New Jersey).
I am a recent graduate of UC Irvine’s Masters in Conservation and Restoration Science program (MCRS) (2022) and received my MFA from CalArts (1996). I currently teach for the MCRS program and at ArtCenter College of Design. Past grants and fellowships include the California Community Foundation, the City of Los Angeles, the Reed Foundation, Metabolic Studios, and the Graham Foundation. I have been fortunate that my artwork was featured by KCET, KCRW, Los Angeles Times, Art in America, Art Forum, and Smithsonian Magazine, among others. My science and community work has recently been featured at the California Invasive Plant Council and the California Native Plant Society conferences.
I thrive at the intersection of art, community, and science and hope you do too!
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