Storytelling and visual art converged in stage design.
Visual art was my first love, but at age twelve I discovered the theatre—where stories came alive.
On my first day at the University of Tennessee, I learned I could do both. I could be a scenery and lighting designer for the stage. After a transfer to SUNY Purchase, I graduated with a BFA in Theatre Design & Technology and headed off into the working world.
However, there was another world drawing me. I eventually left NYC for full-time ministry, spending much of the following thirteen years overseas. When I returned to the US, I also returned to the arts, painting murals and designing scenery and lighting for several theatre companies.
The next move was a decade-plus of cubical work and caregiving. During this period, I dropped my lifetime of painting and picked up the historical fiction idea I’d been rejecting since the ‘90s. In the wee hours, I hammered out my first novel. This manuscript is with Beta Readers and on target for publishing in early 2026.
Last year, after more life changes, I dug out a studio space and now spend my mornings focused on writing and my afternoons exploring fine art.
Now storytelling and visual art diverge, but spring from the same source.
My theatre and travel experiences have given me a passion for stories and environments set in faraway places.
My visual art springs from my fascination with history and the way built spaces and natural environments echo the memories of what has gone before; the layers that record and preserve, bursting with the silent voices of living and dying throughout time.
My novel is set in Roman Syria and Sassanid Persia during Late Antiquity.
As such, I’m a low-church Protestant stumbling through the world of Late Antique Christianity (with all its liturgical and confessional variations), the earliest days of Islam, and the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism. It is a land of wonder and dramatic change, and yet the people struggle with many of the same challenges we do today.
