Chinese Panel II is another piece from that same antique Chinese bed, which I bought in an antiques store in Jackson, Mississippi. The background for this piece consists of another charger, a painted wooden box, and a portion of a picture frame which I later learned had previously embraced a painting by the wonderful Michelle Allee of Pass Christian. 19" x 19" SOLD

Carnival Pranks gets its name from the sheet music which is behind the glass face. The remainder of the piece consists of a frame, a circular piece of metal with glass beads, three wooden tiles, a fragment of a chair, and a metal support. 18" x 27" SOLD

Katrina Time began with the gorgeous mantel clock given to me by a friend. It is mounted on a door to a piece of fine furniture and half of a table top, and is flanked with fragments of a mardi gras gown, rusted wire, and metal leaves. 45" x 26" SOLD

Songbird was created for the owners of a shop of Main Street in Bay St. Louis. Pam and Joy generously invited me to salvage whatever I could from their shop. The piece is composed of a metal cardinal wall piece, a gold painted charging plate, a wooden frame and a half moon. I left the damaged price tag attached, with the name of the shop, Twin Lights Creations, visible. 24" x 30"

SOLD

Nutcracker is composed with a damaged metal nutcracker, a gold painted platter and buttons, metal rods, a frame and sheet music. 18" x 32"

SOLD

Looking Both Ways features a plaster double faced mask mounted on a piece of wicker furniture, a metal platter and three different pieces of wood. 37" x 18" SOLD

Cross and Glass is made from some shattered glass, a piece of wicker furniture, handmade paper, a furniture panel, a small piece of painted wood, and a plaster cross. 19" x 9" SOLD

Angel of the Heart incorporates a carved wooden angel, a heart made from wire and glass beads, a piece of lawn furniture webbing, a glass plate, ceramic wings and a rusty piece of metal. 30" x 13" SOLD

Universal Mother is a piece I created for a fund raiser for the Mississippi Chapter of the March of Dimes. It was created from two fragments of fine furniture, a lid to a tin box, and three dolls which I created from wood, fabric, polymer clay and acrylic paint. SOLD

Tribal began with the rusty kitchen vegetable slicer what are those things called, anyway?), a metal candle holder, half of a table leg, another piece of wood, and a leather face from post Katrina New Orleans. SOLD

Old House was almost named Napoleon, because my friend Mark said that it looked like the man. I gave it the alternate name though, because of the elements of which it is composed. The base is a leg portion of a small table to which I attached a rusty license plate and some curtain rods wrapped in wire. The circular piece is an old vent-Mark says from an air conditioning system-and the top is an elegantly carved fragment of fine furniture. These elements did not all come from the same house, but they could have-one that belonged to someone's grandma. SOLD

Jailhouse Angel is so named because I used a toy handcuff for the halo. It graces the slavaged head of a purchased angel, which is mounted upon a silver vase turned upside down. The top of the vase is adorned with a steel fleur de lis. SOLD

Heron in the Grass starts with another of those beautiful metal herons which I salvaged from an antique store on the beach in Bay St. Louis. It is mounted upon a salvaged shutter and paired with other pieces of rusty metal, including the beautiful spiral rack which used to hang in my kitchen in Clermont Harbor. 19" x 41" SOLD

Heartland is a very simple piece which is small and elegant. I mounted a rusty piece of tin on a piece of moulding and attached a thin piece of brass trim. In front of this support is a beautiful piece of brass which may have been a vase of some sort. SOLD

Flight of Fancy starts with a smashed silver salt or pepper shaker which I found early on and then misplaced for a year. I attached a bead from a necklace I recovered in my yard and an arm/wing shaped tidbit, and mounted them in a small box which is nestled into a tarnished silver platter. SoOLD

Filligrie Angel features a purchased ceramic angel mounted upon a silver trivet and a ceramic plate enhanced with some beautiful silver work. SOLD

Druid is made from a small copper platter, a purchased wooden figure, a salvaged face, some contaminated coin, another metal disc, a metal leaf, and a piece of salvaged moulding. 9" x 11" x 4" freestanding. SOLD

Doorway started with the beautifully painted wood fragment which serves as the support for the piece. A wicker basket is mounted upon the wood and holds another, old piece of rough cut wood. I formed the central figure from polymer clay. This piece is symbolic of the position in which we found ourselves after the storm; we were all faced with a situation which was unfamiliar and frightening, but there was nothing to do but walk through the portal to our new lives. 23" x 12" SOLD

Chain of Events incorporates the back to one of my husband's hand made chairs, a length of chain, a metal ring, an old tobacco tin, and an Eastern carving. 11" x 19" SOLD

Brenda's Horses was one of those [pieces which took a year to come together. The smashed washtub was one which my friend Brenda used to feed her goats. She lost the goats, as well as her horses and cats in the storm. Her husband pointed out the washtub to me when it was laying in the field months later, then delivered it to the makeshift studio I had set up on their property. I wanted to find a way to preserve the "3" on the bottom of the tub-and when I found these metal horses, it all came together. SOLD

Silver From the Pass starts with another piece from my friend Nancy. This time, the platter is matched with a painted wooden shelf with a mirror upon which sits and old very small oil lamp. SOLD

Ace of Hearts is put together from a decorative metal sheet, a piece of furniture covered in cheesecloth and painted, a piece of wicker, a metal tray and carved cardinals. 30" x 18" SOLD

Seed Pod Saint 11 SOLD

Tao II is composed from a piece of bone carved with one of the Eight Ways of the Tao. It is mounted upon a wooden box and embellished with a carved piece of wood and a metal disc. SOLD

Beach Houses is about the beautiful homes which we lost all along the Gulf Coast. Mile after mile of the Mississippi coastline has been robbed of the edifices which graced our lives for many years. All that is left now are the broken pieces of antique furniture, twisted and rusty fragments of metal, and the occasional ornamental treasure which comprise this piece. 30" x 45" SOLD

Bouquet began with the miniature painting in its ornate frame. I surrounded the piece with rusty scrap metal, a silver plated platter, a portion of the back to a chair, and mounted on a frame a friend delivered to my house. 29" x 23" SOLD

Old Town refers to Old Town Bay St. Louis. This beautiful beachfront community took a heavy beating in Katrina, but the spirit is still strong. Less than six weeks after the storm, Jenise McCardell and her husband Mark had mucked out the 18” of mud which was left behind in their building at 220 Main Street, made temporary repairs to the damaged roof, and were open for business. The Artists at 220 Main had the grand reopening during the Second Saturday Artwalk Celebration in October, and we have been exhibiting our works on a daily basis ever since. This piece was created from a painted and distressed furniture panel, pieces from a picket fence, the top to a wooden crate, wire, and a decorative plaster medallion. 42" x 36" SOLD

Angels Gather Here was created for my incredible friend Claire Hawn, who lost her home in Waveland to the storm. She had a collection of angels, none of which she had been able to find in the rubble. I visited her lot and found this round plaster plaque almost completely buried in the mud. I mounted it on some steel from her house, added the metal garland which I also found on her property, and finished the piece with some ceramic leaves and a ceramic wing. 30" x 24"

SOLD

Paul's Heron is my new favorite piece. This exquisite heron fashioned from copper formerly lived in Paul and Stella's yard on the beach in Waveland. Paul gave it to me, I designed the piece and told a friend about it, and she bought it sight unseen. The remainder of the piece is made from a piece of painted plexiglass, what is left of a flower box, a piece of driftwood and a painted plywood support. SOLD

Matrimonial Bliss I is the male half of the Matrimonial diptych. It features a marvelous handcarved wooden puppet from China-even the pegs connecting the limbs are of wood. I found this gem -and the female counterpart- on a recent trip to New York City. It rests upon a Mexican architectural piece and a painted charger, which is the only element of storm debris in this piece. SOLD

Matrimonial Bliss is comprised of a hand carved wooden Chinese puppet, a Mexican archtiectural piece, and a painted charger. SOLD

Lakota began with a water damaged slide of a painting I had done 20 years ago, of a Lakota man with his horse. I mounted the slide in a small frame and surrounded it with a piece of circular metal. The support for the piece is plywood. 12" x 16" SOLD

Mask is another piece that is about anger, but more of a generalized anger. We have all had moments of anger in this experience, whether it was directed towards the slow government response, the scarcity of essentials, or the storm itself. The piece is made from another one of my daughter’s masks (or rather, half of one-) a piece of handmade paper salvaged from the woods, and a metal and wicker furniture component. 29" x 16"

SOLD

Southern Sundance reveals some of my own roots. A native of South Dakota, I was strongly influenced by the culture of Native Americans. The strongest element in this piece is the buffalo shoulder bone, weathered and discolored from age and the elements. I had brought it with me from my last trip to the Dakotas, along with the fossilized ammonite shell. The shell settled only feet from where it had been kept in my house. The bone was another story; I found it several lots north of where my studio had been, in the trunk where it had rested with other bones and some wild turkey feathers. The brass sand dollar brings the piece back home to the coast, and the rusty metal forms a natural crosspiece. The orange metal pieces are to be likened to the sun’s rays, and the crosses point to the suffering of both those sun dancers of the plains, and the victims of Katrina. The support is of handmade paper, burlap and board. 26" x 40"

SOLD

Barrier Island I incorporates a digital reproduction of one of my paintings and pieces of a mixed media construction which was destroyed. It also includes handmade paper, corrugated cardboard, and cork. The support is masonite. 20 1/2" x 11 1/2" SOLD

Biloxi Prayer is among the simplest pieces, both visually and in the message it conveys. The support is a heating grate which represents home and hearth, and the multitude of crosses points to the strong faith of so many of the folk who make a living in the seafood industry here on the coast. The storm-twisted basket is the net in which the fish has been caught, and the painted paper is indicative of the water. The piece is a metaphor for the position in which the workers in the industry find themselves; strong prayer is called for. 28" x 28"

SOLD

Clayton’s Angel is built around the central figure, which I liberated from the rubble pile outside of Clayton Frazier’s antique shop on the beach in Old Town Bay St. Louis. The angel is mounted on a decorative tin that has seen better days, and is softened with fabric ribbon. The support for the piece is a seat from a wooden chair. 20" x 20" SOLD

African Mask is about the deep feelings of resentment held by many members of the black community in New Orleans. In the aftermath of the storm, charges were made that if the population had been largely white, help would have been much quicker in arriving. The piece incorporates an African mask, multi colored yarn, a piece of a small table, two small dolls, a portion of a mixed media piece, and a cupboard door on which a narrative of the storm has been written. 24" x 60" SOLD

Cairo’s Bayou is about our favorite spot on our property. We had a little pier off the bayou, and my husband spent endless hours there, throwing his cast net, crabbing, and feeding an egret he befriended. The central image is of a painting I did of the spot, and it is surrounded by fragments of handmade paper and a damaged painting. 12" x 16" SOLD

Gabriel’s Mask features a paper mache mask by Gabriel Q. The piece is about the storm as it affected the city of New Orleans, and about the masks we all wear now as we try to find a way to live with the changes the storm wrought in our lives. The mask is mounted on a battered piece of plywood, and incorporates handmade paper, metal fleur de lis and mardi gras beads. 20" x 29"

SOLD

Travels hung in a gallery for more than a month before I decided that the piece was incomplete. I added the beautiful horizontal piece of copper to the rusty metal, broken charger plate and plaster figure, and it sold almost immediately. 36" x 31"

SOLD

The Muses is one of the newer pieces which I am very happy with. Several months after the storm I came upon a heavily damaged disco ball on the beach, and hauled it to my studio. I tore strips of the mirror tiles off, and married them with the broken plaster frieze, and a table top. A small piece of additional glass completes the piece. SOLD

The Home Place is a haunting piece which tells the story of the many beautiful homes which used to line the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There are only ghosts left of these homes now, whether they are photographs, memories or a few battered pilings left standing. The piece is made from a badly damaged etching in its original, battered frame, mounted on a salvaged tabletop adorned with pieces of a plant stand. 48" x 19" SOLD

Sunset at Clermont is built around a digital image of a sunset over the ruins of my community. The image is mounted on a piece of laminate, decorative tin tray, and battered paneling. 15" x 11" SOLD

St. Nick of the Ladder is made from a plaster St. Nick, a piece of wicker, a fragment of a picture frame, tracing paper, and fancy ribbons. 15" x 23"

SOLD

St. Nick of the Fan Blade is one of the whimsical pieces which speak to the spirit of the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As the 2005 holiday season approached, people could be seen decorating their tents, Fema trailers, and what was left of their homes. The piece is fashioned from a decorative Santa, a fan blade, portions of a doll house, glass bead tassels, and a battered piece of painted wood. 13" x 23 1/2" SOLD

Something Happened in Clermont Harbor was the first piece of the collection to be sold; unfortunately, it sold before I was able to get a good photo of it. Also one of the first pieces made, it was all about my personal experiences with the storm. The cruciform/human shape was created from fragments of handmade paper upon which metal hands, a clock that stopped when the storm hit my community, a fossilized ammonite, cheesecloth, and a heart keychain. 24" x 37"

SOLD

Soaring Heart represents our hope for the future. It is comprised of a metal heart and picture frame, a piece of painted canvas from one of my mixed media pieces, a metal serving platter, and two pieces of wood. 30" x 27" SOLD

Solitary Sunrise is a digital image of a painting I lost in the storm. It is combined with a piece of formica, a vinyl flooring tile, and building paper. 12" x 9" SOLD

Shroud is one of the first pieces in the series, and remains one of my favorites. The piece was inspired by and built around what I believe to be the quintessential image of Hurricane Katrina. On the beach in Waveland, this damaged tree caught a length of fabric hurled by the storm. It happened to drape in a fashion that was powerfully human. Conjuring up thoughts of sacrifice as it does, it perfectly portrays the feelings of so many people along the coast. The piece was created from a metal serving platter; a portion of a mixed media painting; decorative wood; crate fragment, gauze; and digital images. 16" x 32" SOLD