A word artist, she creates sign-like enamel paintings often having to do with gender politics and power. She enjoys playing with language as though it is art, and it is said that her work is always flashy and contentious.

She was born in Corpus Christi, Texas where she learned Spanish in school and at home heard both English and Yiddish, the latter spoken by her grandmother. In her words, it was a childhood of hearing language go "round and round."

She studied at Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans, Northwestern University, and then married and moved to Chicago where she lived for several decades, later dividing her time between Gary, Indiana and New York City. She has taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and in 199...