About Me

I'm a painter, author and teacher. I co-own an art studio where I teach weekly classes and monthly workshops. I'm a step-parent adoptee and also a mother who lost a child to adoption in 1980. My daughter and I reunited in 2002.

Silent Voices is my story and the story of millions of women. It is the story of birth, loss, longing, power, powerlessness, surrender, grief, family and meaning. It represents the spiritual and physical connection that women have with their children and what happens when that connection is lost at birth. It's about children losing their identities and their histories, their families and their truth. It's a story lived and seen through the eyes of a mother who lost a child and a person who lost a paternal history. The stories of original mothers and adoptees are seldom heard. these paintings bring a voice to some of those people. Each painting represents one moment in time, one aspect of living with adoption.

I began this series in 2010 and continue to work on it today. There are new pieces in the works and I'll continue to work on this series until I simply run out of things to say about adoption. It was in this last year that I began adding poetry to the work. It started with a quiet moment just staring at the painting I had  finished earlier in the day. Memories in words and phrases began to form so I grabbed a notebook and started writing. Like the paintings, the words are driven by my life, emotion and experience.

If you'd like to read more about my life with adoption, please visit here. If you'd like to see more of the art and teaching side of my life, please visit here and here.

Thanks for stopping by,
Carlynne