Welcome to my website! This represents my sound and visual worlds.
* * * *My music centers around voice, melodic scales, and multiple tunings, and is deeply influenced by ongoing studies in Northern Indian classical music. I love getting lost in the sound of my voice and the melodies created by blending clear tones with amplification, metal percussion, feedback, and pure electronic waves. I play solo or with others, including a longtime collaboration with my husband, Kenneth Atchley. I am also a longstanding member of the Hindustani classical music choir, Vasundhara Choir, under the direction of my teacher, vocalist/composer, Rita Sahai.
* * * *My visual art and music are inseparable, they play off each other and come from the same valve, just different practices, upkeep, and instruments. When I draw, I create problems to solve with lines, dots, shapes, and colors until something appears. Often, it's only after I feel like I've ruined the drawing - risking it all - that something starts taking shape, making the process incredibly fun and alive. With dolls, I've found that sometimes, simply staring at a knot unveils a face or limb. Though typically, this happens only after numerous failures, and repeating the process before the knot starts turning into a doll for me. My dolls and drawings have been featured in videos by Brian Reinbolt - Bejar Sibosop on YouTube - and on Philip Perkins' CD "Undanceable" (Artifact Records).
* * * *A bit about my family: I never thought I'd choose to include information about my parents here; however, their artistic interests influenced mine. I'm their daughter, one of nine siblings.
* * * *My late dad (d. 2020) was the sound engineer who ran the studio at IBM in Armonk from the 1960s until 1979. He would do sound editing for Jim Henson when he made industrial films for IBM and numerous other artists because it was also a studio they could rent. In addition, through IBM he interned with Larry Dahlstrom on the remote Location Recording truck (part of Bearsville Sound) and started receiving freelance jobs from Imero Fiorentino. In the 1970's, he was hired by the Whitney Museum to create and oversee the sound bytes for the original King Tut exhibition and traveled around the United States to set up openings. He was also an audiophile who worked evenings at Trader Horn's appliance store to feed the habit. Years ago, when I smoked, my dad asked if I was a smoker or an "OP." I asked what that meant, and he said Jim Henson used it to mean smoking other people's cigarettes.
* * * *My mom has a knack for humor and an appreciation for arts & crafts. She is an amazing clearance bin shopper, Lifetime movie afficionado, and collector of dolls. She has an extensive Annalee doll collection, that nobody in the family appreciates except me. She also loves crafts, furniture restoration, and antiques. I wrote the piece "Retail Calling" (under the section Whims) about her. My maternal grandpa worked as the custodian at the Loews Movie Theater in White Plains, NY, and my mom spent her childhood after-school watching movies, and dreaming, at the cinema.
* * * *My art-making is a humongous part of my lifestyle and teaches me how to frame through play even when doing serious work and solving tedious problems. Professionally, I manage administration for a cluster of faculty-led advanced computer science labs at UC Berkeley, solving institutional problems all day. When I get home, I make art.
* * * *I dedicate this site to my husband, parents, and friends who I am in conversation with and who balance their artistic lifestyle with a million other things because it’s important!