about

Most influential in my artwork are childhood memories and dreams.  Four years as a Ukrainian refugee in a Displaced Persons camp at the end of WW II, and immigration to the USA has haunted my work.  I escaped this ghostly presense by creating a ’New Inner World’ for myself.  At the age of twelve, I first found this world of beauty in the backyards and parks of Chicago. This allowed me to discover my structure for making art.  This meditation became a roadmap for my life’s career – to be an artist. 

Yet, because of my time in the refugee camp, I find an intimacy and beauty in the exposure to dying and death. This can be seen as a thread through many of my works.

My personal expression wants to merge my individual, cultural and historical self with my present artistic being.

That's me on the far right at age twelve, putting my best foot forward.