~ March 2023
Welcome fellow travelers! I figure each of my art projects says a little bit about me. In addition, I come from a long line of women artists, and I learned about making things from my mom.🧡 I’m also a person with many inspirations and first focused seriously on an artistic medium back in the early 1990s through stained glass work. I created sculptures and windows, as well as taught the craft for a couple of years. I eventually decided that I had probably breathed in enough lead solder so moved on!
By 1995, my creative focus turned to designing and building websites, and I had a good long run of over 20 years! My early web designs were published in the now vintage classic, “Web Design Templates Sourcebook.” During the web years, I also built a miniatures side business creating elaborate fairy houses and furniture. Some of this work was published in “Fairy Homes & Gardens” by Ashley Rooney, and Barbara Purchia in 2014, and several more of my pieces will be in the upcoming, Volume 2 due out in 2023. A partial archive still lives on Flickr though, unfortunately, those old photos have not aged well!
I left the web business to delve into nonprofit work as a Humane Educator in schools and universities speaking on subjects such as climate change, industrial agriculture, plant-based nutrition, ethics, and other topics advocating for animals both captive and wild. My recent work motivated by social justice is “Paradise Lost.” It’s also my first art quilt and was inspired by learning of the church’s partnership with the US government in the cultural genocide of Native Americans through the “boarding school” program. In this piece, I imagine a heartbroken historical Jesus peering through a cloudy window in the church’s majestic facade. His tears drip through and down the glass as he weeps at the horrors executed in his name.
On a lighter note, my most recent movie for id Theatre is a cheeky retelling of the Wizard of Oz called, “There’s No Place Like Home” wherein our hero follows her own north star against all odds to rebel against the status quo and save her home! She, along with her friends, The Hopeless Tree and The Timid Rabbit muster up the gumption to cross a toxic Greenhouse Gas Alley and confront the Billionaire of Laws. These unlikely heroes use their grit, determination, courage, and, of course, a magic potion, to learn that they can make a difference in the fight to protect the natural world. This is my first talkie and it’s silly and a little cringy and I love it so much! I’ve always been interested in moviemaking and now that it can be done using a cheap Android phone, it’s good times.
These days, I’m dedicated full-time to art and my studio is located beside an actual magical forest in the wilds of New Mexico. I work mostly with textiles and video but I’ve also been drawing lately and love to paint, too. Regardless, I always add a bit of fairy dust (acquired long ago) to everything I create.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day! Tori 🙌