In 2007, I became interested in Florida’s historic Seminole and Miccosukee tribes, specifically from the period dating from the 1920s to the 1950s. I researched and collected historical documents, photographs, newspaper clippings, postcards and oral histories of the life and work of these early Florida settlers.
Informed by this accumulated wealth of intriguing historic data, and specifically the stories behind the imagery, I began my “Florida Indian Tribes” series of paintings, exploring ways to give the viewer a fresh historical perspective of an Indian tribe which continues to inhabit and impact south Florida, preserving and interpreting in a new way, an important part of its local history.
These paintings are created primarily as banners and framed artwork in batik, rozome, and mixed media. Several of the paintings are done in a style that is a personal interpretation of men's Seminole jackets that are styled after the designs of Japanese kimonos. They have been featured in many museum exhibitions and public art installations. They are presently available for purchase or to be displayed in a traveling exhibition.