BIOGRAPHY

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In the 1960s and 1970s, I studied painting with Robert Wilbert and John Egner at Wayne State University in Detroit, completing a master’s degree in 1972. However, I stopped painting after graduation when I began working at the Detroit Institute of Arts as an education curator. My interests in art shifted from making art to teaching art history. So, I returned to graduate school and completed a doctorate at the University of Michigan. In 1983, I began teaching Italian Renaissance art history at Cleveland State University. I published a monographic study of the paintings and drawings of Siciolante (Girolamo Siciolante: Pittore da Sermoneta (1521-1575), (Studi e Documenti d'Archivio, 4) L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome, 1996). I also served as head of the Art Department and as Associate Dean in the former College of Arts and Sciences. I retired in 2003 and moved to New York City to live with my husband, Dr. Harold Kooden. It was not my plan at that time to resume painting, but, after studying drawing with George Cannata at the Art Students League in Manhattan, that is exactly what I did.

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It was something of a surprise to me that a drawing class would stimulate my interest in painting. In 2006, I decided to acquire a studio in Manhattan’s Washington Heights, set up shop and began painting. I had my first studio show in 2007, others in 2008, 2010 and 2014. The most recent exhibit--a group show curated by Douglas James in 2020--is a virtual exhibition originally scheduled for the Green Kill Gallery in Kingston, NY but cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. My newest paintings--Africans--are displayed on this website.

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