About Me   (A Damn Yankee in the South)
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           When I first moved to the mountains of North Carolina from New York a local man, Bill Young, asked me "Do you know the difference between a yankee and a damn yankee?"  I said no.  He said "A yankee goes home."  Ha, Ha, Ha.  Well,  I guess that makes me a damn yankee Bill because I feel blessed to be here, this is home and it felt like home since the first day I came here over 17 years ago.
           However this area is not for everyone and my then husband decided his heart belonged back in New York.  I got custody of the dog (Patty) and the Makita drill and I've never ever regretted staying in NC.         
                                                                                                                                                        
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This is an amazing, unique area rich with artists.....some of the best in the country in everything from glass blowing to basket making.  Penland School of Crafts (the oldest and largest craft school in the country) is 20 minutes from my home.  I've taken classes in everything.  Wish I could say I was good at everything I tried but alas, I failed miserably at watercolors, and....well there was other failures I don't need to get into.  But I'm hooked on welding, which I learned at the local community college, and love to work with scrap metal and recycled materials.
Another favorite class was at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC with Bobby Hansson, author of the Fine Art of the Tin Can.  I applied to be Bobby's studio assistant or his 5th wife....whichever came up first.  He's creative, an amazing story teller, a very colorful character in every sense of the word and a perfect gentleman.  (You'll find out I lie sometimes)

 1st place birdhouse  My First Place, 2003 Winning birdhouse from the Grove Park Inn's annual birdhouse competition.  This one made from a gourd covered with 15 pounds of roofing nails.  A  woman wrote a letter to the Asheville Citizens Times that it was a foul idea and that a nearsighted bird could get nailed. I loved that!

2nd place birdhouse  This 2004 birdhouse took second place at the GPI annual birdhouse competiton.  Made from 96 railroad spikes not including the stand, it weighs over 100 pounds.  My work is too dangerous to get into the Southern Highland Craft Guild.  I'm happy they didn't say my work sucked.....too dangerous.....I can live with that!
squirrel       
     My 2005 birdhouse was not a winner (loser) but it's one of my top favorites.  It took me 4 months to finish.  It's made from traffic signs.....10 layers of different signs, stop, street, speed limit and warning, each piece notched with a bandsaw to resemble wooden tramp art frames and boxes.  I love to work with street signs because they are colorful and reflective and I can buy them when they're available at Biltmore Iron & Metal Co.....one of my craft supply places.  I also make smaller birdhouses, belts, and jewelry out of traffic signs. 
 earrings      bird house    
                                                       
      Maybe it's at this point I should say how happy I am that things worked out the way they did.  If my ex-husband stayed, back in 1994,  I wouldn't have had the freedom to build the house of MY dreams.  My choices.....of land, of siding in black steel, my design and my choice of art work and landscaping.  Would he have let me finish the shower in broken tile or cover cabinets in bottle caps?  Hell no!  My home is a reflection of me and me alone.  Would I have had the freedom to take welding classes and buy a MIG welder and scrap metal which I have all around my studio?  I don't think so!  Would I be featured on HGTV's Offbeat America if I were still married?  Nooo! 
     I've had the opportunity to do whatever I pleased and it's a wonderful thing when it works out.  So in a way I say thank you Josh for leaving me and moving back to Long Island and leaving me to flourish and play with all these wonderful creative people in such a beautiful place.  You were the best husband I've ever had, no lie.
 trudy    Today I have Stella dog and two zebra finches named Dot and Jim.  I have a small home and studio but BIG plans.  I just obtained the website fineartofrecycling.com to work on and I'm looking for a location that I can work and have an area to display my work and a few friends.  A folk art gallery would fit in really well with the galleries we have here.  I love the work of self taught artists, outsider artists and anyone who's interested in working with recycled materials. 

howard finster
 mom and dad
 michael, jim and doug
 mary,bill & patty
 don price

I take the pieces that you throw away or that you sell at a flea maket or that you scrap or toss in the garbage and they become my craft supplies. 

I love folk art and other artists who work with found materials.   I buy vintage whirligigs and localy made art.  It's everywhere in my home.

My ultimate commitment to recycling shows with the house I had built.  I collected the doors and windows since 1981 and built in the mountains of North Carolina in 1998 on the South Toe River.  Out of some necessity but mostly as a challenge I did the finish work out of broken pottery, broken tiles and glass pieces in the bathroom, shower, mantle and kitchen counter.  Cabinets in the kitchen and living room I covered with bottle caps and I have enough caps to cover the entire floor in this 480+ square foot home. (Resale value? yeah I've heard of that but what's it got to do with ART?)  A small deck connecting my house to the studio was pressure treated wood from a deck replaced in town and the steel siding on the peak of my studio was recycled from Biltmore Iron and Metal.
2006 Birdhouse (loser)(2006 birdhousefolk artist miz thangback yard