The Lily of the Mohawks was originally conceived in response to a call for artworks by the Alliance for Cultural Democracy addressing the cinque- centennial of Columbus's arrival in the new world. It was eventually exhibited in 1995 at the Mitchell Museum in Illinois. It consisted of a large installation of 12 female figures gazing down upon an image of a cross made up of thousands of silk flower petals arranged in a traditional Algonquin design. Based upon the life of Kateri Tekawitha, a Native American woman who lived in the late 1600’s and who has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, Lily is about the clashing — and meshing — of cultures, and the complications that arise when historical events and private lives collide.

 

What is it that we refuse to see? was a shop-window installation as part of Artfronts in Philadelphia. Eight cast figures, hands over eyes, seemed to float upon a blue background behind a question, which was stenciled upon the inside of the window in translucent wax. At night, the window glowed from blue fluorescent lights hidden below.

 

The Garden of Earthly Delights was made for an upper room at the Boland Gallery at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. A series of architectural molding wreaths encircling a woman’s face. The faces have fruits or vegetables forced into their mouths, with words underneath that are used to describe the characteristics of those fruits . . . or, allegorically, that are often used to describe the characteristics of women.

 

I Proverbi is a series based on traditional Italian proverbs about women, which I learned when I had the opportunity to spend two months in Sicily in 1993. Many of them equate women with nature or farm animals.