Writing and art making have been central to my life since childhood. I grew up in the 1950s and 60s in Greenwich Village. My father, the writer James Agee, died at age 45, winning a posthumous Pulitzer for his autobiographic novel A Death in the Family in 1958, and acquiring a somewhat cult following in the literary world. I have been writing stories over the years and present some of them here along with audio files of readings. As a child I had a wonderful class at the MOMA, and have been making art in one form or another ever since. I have maintained an intensive life drawing practice since the late 1990s, and now work mostly in printmaking. I have worked at a variety of jobs including waitress, house painter, reproductive counselor, chef, software trainer at the United Nations, adjunct college professor, freelance writer, editorial consultant, and administrator of homes for independent senior citizens. I am the mother of three grown sons and currently live in Scituate, Ma. with my husband, Paul Sprecher, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Hingham.

 

My work emerges from play with materials. Line, form and imagery come to light intuitively from this conversation. Mark making seems to come through me, through my hand, out of a state of attunement with my body, through "sensing," by which I mean the making of meaning (sense) through the senses. This attunement is grounded in a life drawing practice of many years, primarily in charcoal, and a deep relationship with the natural and organic world. I love the flow of line through my eye and hand onto the paper, guiding me, love the way layered color forms itself into metaphor. Along with the human figure, stones, bark, plants, earth forms and trees are my muses. Monotypes and monoprints are my primary medium. I love their spontaneity, am drawn to variations on a theme, the mystery of the accidental. Making art is how I make sense of my self in the world. It is the basic conversation.

Awards and Publication
Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship, 12 week residency at Art Omi, Ghent, NY, 2004.
Member, Writer’s Room of Boston, Boston, MA, 2005-2006.
Residency, Vermont Studio Center, October, 2006

“Body Language”, in The Movable Nest: A Mother/Daughter Companion, eds. M. Kallet & K. S. Byer, Helicon Nine Editions, 2007
“Childbirth”, in Low Explosions: Writings on the Body, eds. C. Fedukovich & S. Sparks, Knoxville Writer’s Guild, 2006
“Kniferack”, presented at the James Agee Celebration, Knoxville, Tn., April, 2005
“Momentum”, DoubleTake Magazine, Spring, 2002.

Readings at Cornelia Street Café, Spring 2002, and several group readings as member of “Seven Women Who Write,” 1995-2008.
Reading at Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA 2005.
2002-2004 Readings at the Ridgewood Public Library (NJ), Ramsey Public Library (NJ), Nyack Public Library (NJ), Book Arts (NYC).

Shows and Awards
2011 re:marks Solo show at James Library, Norwell, MA 
2010  Focus on the Figure Group Show, North River Arts Society, Marshfield, MA
“Best in Show”
2010  Members Show, South Shore Art Center
2010  Group Show, Coastal Printmakers, James Library, Norwell, MA
2009  Focus on the Figure Group Show at theNorth River Arts Society, Marshfield, MA
2009  Group Show, Coastal Printmakers, James Library, Norwell, MA
2008  Group Show, Coastal Printmakers, James Library, Norwell, MA
2006–2010  Second Parish Annual Art Show, Hingham, MA
2003  Joint show with David Sprecher, Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, NJ
1999  Solo Show, Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, NJ

Education
Studio workshops with Doug Dawson, Mary Frank, Bonnie Goldstein, Timothy Hawkesworth, Peregrine Higgens, Esther Maschio, Ron Pograsso, Dan Weldon, 1999–present.
Etching workshop at Provincetown Writers and Artists Center, 2007
Print workshop at Zea Mays, Florence, MA 2006
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA —  printmaking classes with Alexander de Maria, 2006–2008

Affiliations
Coastal Printmakers
Monotype Guild of New England

Writing
MFA Columbia University School of the Arts, 1979

I have studied writing with Grace Paley, Hannah Greene, Hilma Wolitzer, Stephen Koch, Marge Piercy, and Hetty Jones.