I did Artists in the Schools for years, so I traveled all over the state, and I always asked to live with a family, because I'm not from here, and I needed to have a sense of place of where I was. And that was the most valuable experience for me to understand that. And I have always experienced Iowa as a whole community, the connectedness of Iowa as a community. I have had wonderful support from all over the country, but Iowans have been so loyal and so generous with their support. So it has been for us a wonderful place to live.

It is a fairly natural environment, and like it or not, if you're using your eyes and seeing things, ...the design is there. We watch those rows change as we go down the highway. There's a lot of geometry in terms of what we see. Specifically, do I go out and say, "this is influencing me"? No. But I've lived here for most of my life now, so it certainly has.

I was born and raised in Brooklyn in New York, and I love the city. Even though I'm an Iowa artist because I've been here almost twenty years, I'm not an Iowan. I don't know what's difficult about Iowa, except the stimulation isn't the same. I think I want more color. Go ahead and say what you really want to say. Tell me the truth! Just don't tell me the nice thing to say.

Iowa's been very good to me. I have great friends. I got to go back to school. I've served on many committees. I've done a lot of things here in Iowa. It's really where I've, I would say, birthed or blossomed as an artist. But I don't know that I can say it influences my art.