About the Artist and the Work
THE ARTIST
I grew up on a farm in Southwest Colorado and began drawing as a child.
Although largely self-taught, while working I took drawing and sculpting classes at the University of California, Davis and at the Art Students’ League in New York City.
My jobs in international development allowed me to live and travel in many countries including Haiti, Fiji, Colombia, South Africa, and much of the South and Southeast Asia regions. Until recently I lived in Bangkok, Thailand for 10 years.
Now I divide my time between an old house overlooking the Raritan river bay in NJ and an old farm in upstate New York.
My work was first accepted in a juried exhibition by the curator of the Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C in 1988.
In addition to exhibitions in Thailand, I’ve shown my work in galleries at Lambertville, Red Bank and Perth Amboy, NJ, in a juried exhibit at the Northern NJ Center for the Arts, and participated in a fund-raising exhibition at the Raritan Bay Hospital.
My work is in private collections in Europe, Canada, Asia, North and South America.
THE WORK
Paintings (acrylics)
I try to find connections wherever I live or travel. My earlier paintings were composites taken from memories, sketches and photographs of scenes and people I came across in different countries. But given language barriers and cultural differences, it’s often hard to recognize significant connections in realistic imagery, and so like many contemporary artists, I use color, light and dark, patterns and textures to form images that speak to us indirectly.
Asian influenced, the vessel series are spare, simple images from my imagination and used as subjects because of their connection to all of us throughout history and because of their symbolic role in all cultures around the world. Used in life and death, our traditions and rituals, they hold all things precious - water, food, tools, plants, fire, earth, medicine, blood, ashes and spirits.
I also paint the vessels symbolically as images of our human relationships. They are nested and clustered, and represent people we’ve met during our lives. Some are large, rigid, organic or nurturing. Others are small, fragile or precious and often partially hidden or protected in dark mysteries, in shadows of other vessels.
The paintings are as much about what we do not see, as what we do see. Like things carried inside these vessels, we all bear sorrow, fear, hope, joy and memories under our surface.
Mixed media
Living back in the US has been an adjustment and contrast of urban chaos and rural serenity, which has influenced my recent work. The abstract landscapes, while bursting with patterns, colors and textures, represent images in my mind that hopefully translate to yours when you read the titles.
Although complex and textural, the tree series has evolved into simpler forms, which suggest the quiet movement of light and dark, nature and stillness. These paintings represent our relationship with our surroundings, nature and the earth, as well as our relationships with others, and are intended to evoke reminders of our responsibility toward them.
Mixed-media pieces include acrylic, charcoal, graphite, oil, pastel, plaster, fabric, lace, natural found objects (stones, leaves, needles, reeds and grasses) and encaustic (melted beeswax mixed with pigment). Paintings and mixed-media are on masonite. Giclée prints are on canvas and painted with acrylics. They can be stretched if desired.
Frames can also be provided.