Artist Statement
I love experiencing the freedom and gesture of painting. A blank canvas is a beginning, a challenge, and a means of expression for where I am in my life. For inspiration, I often look to my black and white pinhole photographs. My paintings are reminiscent of these mysterious, atmospheric, impressionistic images. For me, painting begins with mark making, drawing, or writing down my thoughts with markers or graphite on canvas, paper, or wood panel. I then choose my palette of oil paints and add cold wax. I let my intuition and imagination guide me. Adding and eliminating paint to the surface helps to create layers of texture and design. This layering is also a metaphor for the many layers of our personalities and emotions, as colorful and complex as they may be.
Biography
Although born and raised in New York City and its environs, my involvement in art and photography began in the Southwest while living on a Navajo reservation. I began taking photography classes at the same college where I was teaching. These courses had a major impact on my life and were the impetus for a career change when I moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
After receiving my MFA in Photography at Georgia State University, photography and art became an essential part of my life, but it was 10 years ago, surrounded by talented painters, that my interest in painting began.
I have exhibited my photography in Georgia, Florida, Texas, California, and Louisiana. Several of my images are included in The Bibliotheque National de Paris, France; The Pinhole Resource Collection in the New Mexico Museum of History, Photo Archive in Santa Fe, NM; the Peckenpaugh Collection at the University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA; and the Fulton County Center for the Arts, Atlanta, GA.
I attended an artist residency at The Hambidge Center, Rabun Gap, Georgia.