Artist Statement
I express my artistic vision through abstract mixed-media landscapes. I am intrigued and inspired by the natural environment. My intent is to provide the viewer with a sense of the symbiotic relationship between the primeval elements - stone, soil, water and sky - and the lifeforms these elements nurture.
I love experimenting with color, be it bold and vibrant or quiet and subdued. No matter what palette I use, my mixed media canvases and many of my acrylic-only canvases are usually textured. For mixed media, I layer torn or cut handmade paper and/or recycled magazine paper with acrylic paint, sculpting paste and an occasional found object. To add additional depth and texture, portions of some layers are literally scrubbed off with water before the paint, glue or sculpting paste has completely set. Some of these scrubbed portions are left “raw”, while others are repainted and/or papered over. For my acrylic-only canvases, I apply thick layers of paint with brushes, palette knives and my hands.
Artist Bio
I was born and raised outside of Boston. My family was fortunate to spend our summers at my grandmother’s old camp house on several wooded acres adjacent to Walden Pond. Together, my brother, sisters and I, along with an ever-revolving flock of cousins, explored every inch of the property. We climbed rock outcroppings, built tree forts, paddled up and down the Sudbury River, hunted for Lady Slippers, sang with the tree frogs and danced with the fireflies. My knees were perpetually scabbed, my hands always filthy, and my imagination ran at full tilt day and night fueled by this outdoor wonderland. But, ironically, it wasn’t until I left this wonderland far behind, that my creative spirit was truly stirred.
It was 1967, the "Summer of Love". Once school let out, my mother, hell-bent on leaving town after the sudden death of my father, sold the house and most everything in it. She piled all us kids in the car and off we went, heading west to the Golden State. It was during this journey, my first trip away from the only home I’d known, that I witnessed the overwhelming expanse, power and beauty of our natural environment. With my head in my arms resting across the open car window, I stared transfixed as one bedazzling landscape after another whizzed by my line of vision. By the time we reached the Golden Gate Bridge, my love affair with nature began in earnest.
Several decades and a few cross-country trips later, having made Raleigh, NC my home, I am still smitten. Whether its a distant sun-drenched butte in the Painted Desert or a twisted, gnarly clump of roots underfoot at one of our city’s parks, nature’s own works of art take my breath away. For me, there is nothing more stunning on Earth than the very earth itself. This is what inspires my work.
My work has been exhibited in multiple venues throughout North Carolina and is included in many local and national private collections. I am currently being represented by Gallery 444 in San Francisco. Selected pieces of my work can be seen there or by appointment in my home studio in downtown