I was born in Duncan BC, second daughter of three, to German immigrants and survivors of WWll. My parents’ experience of the war and growing up as a child of the enemy has influenced my approach to be cautious of assumptions. My parents still live in the same house with an individuated lifestyle and overgrown garden.

I received a B.F.A. from University of Victoria in 1984 and went on to win a Commonwealth scholarship to study in New Zealand. At this time I married Lindsay MacQueen, a fellow painter, and with his son Eamon went to New Zealand. This offered a great opportunity to recognize what it was to be Canadian. In 1989, I received an M.F.A and we returned that same year to live on Saltspring Is., as it was then affordable. For a number of years we tree planted in remote areas of B.C. The work offered an intense learning of the natural world and BC’s resource economy and history. By 1993, Lindsay had become a teacher on the island. We had three children; Aulden, Frieda and Ella. I continued to paint and exhibit and give classes in drawing and painting. Being a mother has been my biggest challenge, education and greatest joy. Painting is my way of studying the self in process and I am committed to this enquiry while I still have the privilege of being alive.

I have ongoing themes among them is interrelatedness which I am looking at using small magnetised pieces on metal surfaces. Also there are the complex aspects of female sexuality with a series based on filmic history. I am not convinced of easy solutions and often add found materials to make things trickier for the image. Lately I’ve been painting deviations onto the images. I do look to places that mystify me, somehow they give solace. cenarios that could change. They are areas of choice perhaps, where one thing moves into another or more.   At this fulcrum   I hope to find a place where fears can be glimpsed and   possibilities imagined.