I sculpt so that we all can remember what it took for women to find stride in America.
Maya Angelou
“Each time a girl opens a book and reads a womanless history, she learns she is worth less.”
Myra Pollack Sadker
I studied and sculpted the torn and patched hemline of Harriet Tubman’s skirt, creating with clay the markings of the many miles she must have trudged, boot to hem. She always wished for a pair of pants, her friends thought of giving her a pair, but they knew she would just give them away.
I try in my sculpture to stop life in mid-sentence and give it form. As a sculptor I have placed over 180 sculptures in 33 states.
First hand, I have felt and listened to the voices of women and recreated moments of motherhood, moments of wearing thin,
of letting go, of selflessness and of triumph. I honor the ability to sculpt and value historical women.
In my studio today there are several sculptures honoring strong women. Head studies of Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony act as sentinels over my work. In rough form, a suffrage monument bound for Seneca Falls includes Harriet Tubman, Laura Kellogg, Martha Wright, and Sojourner Truth. A clay sketch of Daisy Bates captures the stance of this Civil Rights Activist from Little Rock. Ruth Bader Ginsberg gracefully shows her mastery, the noble steps, of the Supreme Court Building.
Commemorating women has become more than my life’s work — it is my calling to raise their voices. Boot to the hemline of my own jeans, I sculpt so that we all can remember what it took for women to find stride in America.