I was born in the Netherlands and spend my childhood in a village. All of what I am doing now has been rooted in my childhood. I grew up with classical music, sang along with Maria Callas and struggled with playing the piano. I would dress up and dance through the house to the swanlake off into my own world. I spend my time painting being lost in landscapes I longed for, sewed clothes for different time periods for barbie dolls or created water and rock gardens in the yard. I grew up with ritual in my village that honored the yearly cycles with different festivities.

I went to art school in Maastricht in the Netherlands. Art school was a struggle at first. Three months before my final I decided in a desperate attempt to find my own voice to work at home. In the privacy and safety of my own space I began to feel the freedom to express myself. I astounded my teachers with the results. I took two years to explore my art. Then something changed.

I fell in love with an American who was giving a performance in the Netherlands. A year later in 1987 I came to the US and went part time to the Museum School. The first years in the US were very difficult. Life was now about survival and loss of identity in an environment that felt uncaring, ugly and confusing. All the celebrations and rituals had fallen away. There was a loss of beauty that I only found again in the community of musicians. But not being a performer I could not participate and felt left out.