Artist’s Statement
Making art is the joy and purpose of my life. Formally trained in figurative realism, I worked for several years using the figure as a vehicle for my art. Yet I find now that my passion runs in the world of abstraction. Since moving to NE Wisconsin in early 2023, I have focused on the Fox River and its surrounding lush forest as my source material for my acrylic and mixed media paintings.
I think of painting as a portal to an emotional and spiritual world – a world both joyful and passionate. I search for and eventually discover my paintings through intuitive mark-making and layering in paint and occasionally mixed media. There is a balancing act between analysis and instinct, letting go and taking control. I’ve described myself as “the supervisor of accidents,” which plays to the adventurous side of me. Underlying all of that though, is a yearning for transcendence…an experience that sometimes happens during the process of merging memory, consciousness and the stored imagery collected during long, solitary walks.
Finally, an important aspect of my work is the anticipated response of the viewer. I trust my viewer to complete the creative act by combining their own experience and perspectives to interpret my work, which is frequently and purposefully ambiguous.
