I was born in The Hague, Holland in 1936 and emigrated to the United States with my parents during WW2. My family moved to Woodstock, N.Y. when I was eight, and I was inspired from an early age by the excitement and creativity of the Woodstock art environment. I took a year off from college to study at the Academia De Belle Arte in Florence, Italy where my mother had been a student before me. After college I married Painter-sculptor Edward Chavez, an abstract artist, and when our daughter Maia (now also an artist) was in college, I studied art and art history at Yale University.Landscape and wildlife are my inspiration. With fisherman Dick Strain I am fortunate enough to travel to many of the world's wildest places. I always carry a back pack with painting supplies. Pleine Aire painting provides the source material for my studio works.

EXHIBITIONS IN 2009:

"Painted Journeys" Museum of Northern Arizona (12 paintings)

"Badlands and Red Rocks" solo exhibition, Art Society of Kingston NY

RECENT NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS:

2008-"The Art of Conservation" Hyram Blauvelt Museum

2006-Paint America Top 100, Judges Choice Award

2006, 07, 08 Art And The Animal Kingdom, Bennington Vt.

2005 Birds In Art, Wausau Wis.

2004-Art and the Animal Kingdom, Bennington Vt

2003-Art For The Parks Top 100, Jackson's Hole, Wy

2003-Oil Painters of America, Taos NM

2003-Salon International, San Antonio, TX

2001-Henry Doorly Zoo Wildlife Invitational Exhibit, Omaha Neb.

2001 Solo Exhibit, Fletcher Gallery, Woodstock, NY

2001 Birds in Art, Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art

2001 "Wild in Natuur" Enschede, Holland

2000 - Birds in Art, Wausau, WI

2000- NY State Fair Wildelife Art (prizewinner) 

2000 Oil Painters of America, Carmel, CA

The Wonders of Nature, Hong Kong

Salamagundi Club Oil Painters of America

Wichita Center of the Arts