With a Ph.D. in both Sociology and Philosophy, Ms. Mayes has taught Sociology and has owned an art gallery. Since 1993, she has been a full-time artist. Currently Ms. Mayes is working on a gateway sculpture to be installed this fall in Half Moon Bay, California. She is especially intrigued by African stone sculpture, which she discovered while living in Zimbabwe.

Thoughts:

I am doing a series of paintings entitled "Broken Heart" that began with the 1998 floods of El Nino. The first was "My Heart Going Down the River." The second,"My Heart on Black Mesa," was for a poet whose poetry evokes the same sentiment and symbolism that I feel in the meaning of "the heart." My mask design expresses the sadness and sorrow we feel about loss, especially the loss of a loved one.

It's also a visual representation of the beauty of paint - thick, rich, complicated colors layered like the layers of our attachment to life and to love .