In the l960s when I first began exhibiting my work, I followed the lead of my teacher, mentor and husband, Loren Oliver, in sending entries to regional, national and international competitive shows. In those days one could often send the piece itself rather than slides of the work. Often I would look for exhibitions with judges I respected as artists or curators of well known museums and collections. It was a great source of encouragement when such juries accepted my work to be included in such an exhibit and especially rewarding when it received a prize.

This pattern continued along with the inclusion of solo or small group showings of my work through the 80s. In the late 80' and the 90' I was kept quite busy teaching art in a catholic school where I had classes with pre-K classes through to the high school elective. Consequently, I did not pursue the exhibition of my work very strenuously. During this time, most exhibitions were requiring entries by slide. The primary focus of my art was creating large pen and ink drawings which were and are difficult to reproduce on a slide. My successes in competitive exhibits of that time were the few to which I could send the art object. With the death of my husband in the late 90s, the desire to compete dwindled as the task of finding any top notch shows which judged on the work rather than a slide became more difficult and I became immersed in the satisfaction of teaching.

In the past six years, my life with my husband, James Hubbard, has given me the opportunity to work in my studio full time, with a production level which encourages me to find venues in which to show my art. We visit the Chautauqua Institution in New York State each year for two weeks of its summer season. Because a large body of my work draws inspiration from Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, it occurred to us and to friends who know the Chautauqua Community to approach the Department of Religion with the idea of displaying these works under its sponsorship. The idea was accepted as an appropriate addition to the offerings by that department. The display will hang for three weeks, July 23 - August 12 in the Hall of Christ on the grounds of Chautauqua.

With digital photography, I have found that the right photographer can make acceptable photos of my work. Will this enable me to reconsider participation in competitive exhibition? The work I do in encaustic lends itself very easily to photography and that may be a medium I will explore more rigorously in the future.