For the past eleven years, I have supported a studio by painting commissioned oil portraits for the rich and accomplished. But the maligning of immigrants and refugees that took place during and since the 2016 election is compelling me instead to seek out, paint, and tell the stories of the immigrants that I see, who are not a threat to America, but an asset.

Immigrants from everywhere are all around me in New York City; the subway alone captures every gene pool on the planet. Using journalism skills honed in my prior career as a CBS News correspondent, plus my talents as a visual artist, I am interviewing and painting people from a variety of countries and cultures, who were not born here but chose to come to this country, or were brought here as children, seeking safety or freedom or opportunity or all of the above.

The immigrants I see work hard — extremely hard — to support their families here and, in some cases, also abroad. I want the viewing public to better understand who these people are, what they have sacrificed to come here, what living here means to them, and what contributions they have made to their adopted country. I believe that the viewers will discover kindred spirits who are in their hearts as American as they are.