Mia paints in oil on canvas and her work demonstrates the relationship between expression and feelings. Her curiosity with color and form can be seen in her compositions. She cares deeply about the connection between expression and the freedom of emotions. She is influenced by artist’s such as Fine, Mitchell, both De Kooning’s, Krasner, Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin. She is smitten by the AbEx period.  

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mia has lived in or had an extended stay in over 20 countries, and stateside on both coasts, the mid-west, southwest and south. Living such a diverse existence, countries and cultures have influenced her work.  “The one thing I was able to take with me everywhere was my creative mind. I absorbed colors, smells, visual imagery, feelings, and the experiences of living with diverse groups of people. This part enormously impacted my life and artistic sense in countless ways.”

Early in her academic career, Mia studied studio art at the University of New Mexico.. She ended up pursuing social work degrees, undergraduate through postgraduate with an interest in expressive art therapies. The demands of working as a social worker became increasingly difficult while raising her own children. Mia switched gears and taught at Old Dominion University, for over a decade. Throughout her life, she fueled her creative passion through painting and photography. Steadily, she found herself painting more, pulling away from academia and slowly, moved back into the art world where she belongs.  

She currently resides in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her home studio is just blocks away from the Atlantic Ocean in the city’s Vibe Creative District, filled with light and smells of an active painter.

Mia has been a docent at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). She’s an active volunteer, as treasurer of Virginia Beach’s Vibe Creative District. Mia also sits on the City of Virginia Beach Public Art Committee for Cultural Affairs and serves as the Commissioner for the Arts and Humanities Commission.

Work Displayed at The Brock Cancer Center in Virginia Beach

Group Show: “RSVP” at Hixon Gallery, ODU, Norfolk, March 3-17 2022

Art Show: Norfolk Academy, April 30-May 6 2022

Group show: Hung Juried 2.0 Glavekocen Gallery May 18-June 16 2022

Solo Exhibit: Sandler Center, Virginia Beach, May 23-September 2022

Solo Exhibit: Gallery 21, Norfolk, July 2022

ViBe Mural Festival 2022, Mural at Esoteric Restaurant in ViBe Creative District, August 2022

Neon Festival 2022, Norfolk, October 2022

Branching Out at Coastalmod Oceanfront Gallery, December 8-January 29 2023

MOCA Satellite Gallery, Virginia Beach, December/January 2023

Group Show at Glavekocen Gallery Richmond, January 2023

Group Art Show, Norfolk Academy, April 2023