Winter Landscape #4

18" x 24"

oil on panel

The space is interesting in this one. The center area, which I often enjoy framing, is shapped by the two clusters of trees. The ones on the left are set back further, trunks ending at about one-third from the bottom, while the ones on the right go to the edge. This, in combination with the angles of the trees, create a diagonal tension, giving a feeling of the distance between the clusters. The space also works from front to back as the blue tracks lead to the center of the painting, although remaining fairly parallel, unlike the one point perspective exercise of the railroad tracks. Yellow lines on the left delineate an area, and one can sense space wrapping around behind the trees.

I like the blinding light of snow in winter and the colors I see in it, exaggerated here in the pink solid. Milton Avery reassures me that simple, color, and lyrical have their place next to an encapsulated shark.

Three Winter Watercolors

watercolors in Moleskin watercolor book

pages 16, 17, and 18

5" x 9"

I'll tell you what I enjoy about these (go ahead and call this a vanity blog, but are there any other kind? Besides, this is about artistic independence). I like the sense of scale in the first one with the little strip of land at the bottom. The bright blue rings out clearly, harmonizing with the other colors. The green edges suggest curtains or some kind of vegetation.

I am very interested in expansive space like where I live. The second picture has that openness, with the hint of a window frame or a camera viewfinder, distancing oneself from the cold and the elements. It is reflective of the no-stopping-it-now western quest to contain (and often possess) nature.

The daytime of deep winter has many variations of white and gray. Sometimes bright, sometimes dim, the snow often blindingly contrasts with the sky, forcing me to wear sunglasses while driving even though I'm craving the sun. White-out conditions blows the snow in every direction, blending the differences between up, down, and middle.

The third picture is about the sharp contrast of an overcast day without precipitation as viewed from an interior. The white and black are flat and bold while the gray has soft subtleties in color and paint handling, meeting with the snow in a line meant to convey the two substances.

My brother tells me it is eighty-one degrees in Ft. Lauderdale. He is keeping company with iguanas near the pool. It is enticing, but I would miss the grays. Alright, a few days might be nice...

Homage to Painting

oil on panel
20" x 16"

I saw some of my favorite paintings while walking through the permanent collection at the MOMA. Rothko, Agnes Martin, Lee Krasner; they're all so good. The paintings are made of color and light and create respite. On the edgier side there is DeKooning's Woman I, ferocious and so strong. I love Pollock's Gothic, especially his blue. Whatever is being expressed in an artwork, I respond mostly to art that is intense, like these. I want to see life squeezed into the canvas.
Homage to Painting came out of this museum experience (museums are NOT boring!). I had the impulse to lay flowers in front of the paintings, as I am so appreciative of the life lived, the achievement, the art that is passed on. The pictures are living testimonies to the artists who made them. The light and hope that emanates from them reminds me of the white paper of
Schindler's List that held the names of the people he was trying to save. The paintings save me.

Late Fall 2

oil on canvas

40" x 28"

More gumballs! Well, they're not really gumballs, but they do make me think of the game of guessing how many jelly beans are in a jar. The dots are compressed toward the picture plane, accentuating the surface of the canvas. The edging on three sides sets them back a bit, setting up a dialogue between in vs. out, the world of circles as opposed to something else.

Dots of fall treetops are layered on the bottom like piles of leaves while the second fourth of the painting shows the darker structure of bare trees. The third fourth is made up of blue and white (falling snow or cool air?), while the upper fourth is an attempt at the many varieties of crystalline blue there are no paints for (sigh). The height of the canvas compared to width is important as the circles are like bubbles. They have a good enough length to travel and convey their effervescence. When looking at the actual painting (I'm not sure it works in the jpeg) one's eyes dilate, getting lost in the movement, stimulated by the bouncing color.

For all the special effects computers offer in pixelization and making things random, less mechanical, more naturalistic, a computer could not make this painting. I work intuitively, sometimes impulsively, and sometimes calculated. I think the location and color of the dots (or other design elements I use in other pictures) end up conveying my personal energy and the feeling I am expressing. A friend's parent in 1989, when I was in high school and deciding to go to art school to study painting laughed at my decision, saying that computers would make all the art of the future. It is like saying we would happily accept the superiority of the machines we create. Our souls could give up, obsolete.

Resume and Artist's Statement

Resume

Education

1994 – 1996 University of Pennsylvania, MFA
1989 – Dec. 1993 Massachusetts College of Art, BFA

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Bowery Gallery, Chelsea, New York City, “Images of Optimism”

2007 Washington Art Association, Washington Depot, CT

2006 Bowery Gallery, Chelsea, New York City, "Sex, Death, and the Spirit"

2005 Rochester Contemporary, Rochester, NY, “Women and Bulls”

2005 Roberts Wesleyan College, Davison Gallery, Rochester, NY
"Expressing Christian Imagery"

2004 Bowery Gallery; Chelsea, New York City
"Feminist Icons: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints"

2003 Bowery Gallery; Chelsea, New York City
"Paintings in Response to Sept. 11th; The Stations of the Cross"
2003 St. Andrew's Lutheran Church; Easton, PA
"The Stations of the Cross"
2000 Printmaking Council of New Jersey, North Branch, NJ
Bowery Gallery; SoHo, New York City
1999 Villanova University, Villanova, PA
1999 Johnson and Johnson World Headquarters;
New Brunswick, NJ

Group Exhibitions

2008  Memorial Art Gallery Faculty Exhibition at The Gallery at One Bausch and Lomb Place, Rochester, NY

2007-2008  Rochester Contemporary (RoCo) Members Exhibition

2007 Massachusetts State House, Boston, MA, “Violence Transformed”

2006 Episcopal Church 75^th National Convention, Columbus, OH,  “Visual Preludes”

2005 RoCo, Rochester, NY, "Unbound - Artist's Books", Jurors: Elizabeth Switzer, 

Director, and Mary Giehl, Professor of Art, Syracuse University

2005 Bowery Gallery, Chelsea, New York City, "Drawings"

2004 Wright State University, "Drawing from Perception V", Dayton, OH
Juror: Charles Cajori, artist, former Professor of Art at the NY Studio School

2004 The Cathedral Basilica, Covington, KY, "Visions VIII",
International Juried Show, Juror: John Begley, Director of the Hite Art Institute, Univ. of Louisville, KY

2004 High Falls Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Curator: Sally Winslow, Director

2004 Upstream Gallery National Juried Show, "Small Works", Dobbs Ferry, NY

2004 HallsWalls Art Center, Buffalo, NY

2004 Bowery Gallery, Chelsea, New York City, "Small Works"

2001 - 2003 William Paterson University, Ben Shahn Galleries,Wayne, NJ
"Life With Pocket Change and Other Pleasures" artists' books
Curator: Nancy Einreinhofer, Director
2002 "NorthEast Prints 2002", Juror: Ms. Judith Hecker, Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2001 "NorthEast Prints 2001", Juror: Marilyn Symmes
Curator of Prints and Drawings, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York, NY.

2002 - 2003 Hunterdon Art Center; Clinton, NJ
46th and 47th Annual National Print Exhibition
Juror: Lisa Mackie, Master Printer, Professor At Stony Brook and N.Y.U.
2003 Bowery Gallery: Group Show
2002 Artists and the Art of the Book, Traveling to the following locations: The Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA; Artists' Image Resource Inc., Pittsburgh, PA; Contemporary Museum of Design and Art, San Jose, Costa Rica; Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, OH; Mexico City; Costa Rica, Chicago, University of Kyoto, Japan; University of Gloucestershire, England
Curator: Curlee Raven Holton, Experimental Printmaking Institute
2002 Bowery Gallery: Five Painters
2002 Lafayette College, Grossman Gallery:
Faculty Exhibition 

2001 Art Association of Harrisburg; Harrisburg, PA
Juror: Susan Cross
Assistant Curator, Guggenheim Museum, New York
2001 Boston University, 808 Gallery
The Boston Printmakers, North American Print Biennial; Juror: David Kiehl, Curator of Prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art
2000 Mountain Art Show; Bernardsville, NJ
Juror: Eileen Foti, Printmaker, Professor at Rutgers University
2000 Mesa Arts Center; Mesa, AZ
Juror: John Armstrong, Master Printer
2000 Wayne Art Center; Wayne, PA; Juror: Barbara Grossman, Artist/Critic – NY Studio School, Chattaqua
2000 Makeready Press Gallery; Montclair, NJ
Juror: Sid Sachs, Gallery Director, University of the Arts
1999 Printmaking Council of New Jersey; North Branch, NJ
"Responding to Chinese Printmaking"
1999 Brookdale Community College; Lincroft, NJ Faculty Exhibition

1998 Monmouth Museum; Lincroft, NJ - Annual Juried Show
1997 Washington Art Association; Washington Depot, CT
"Young Talent Juried Show"
1995 Gallery 37; Summit, NJ; Steamroller Gallery; Frenchtown, NJ


Awards

2002 Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University,
Purchase Award, Juror: Ms. Judith Hecker, Assistant Curator, Dept. of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2001 Harrisburg Art Association, 73rd Annual Juried Exhibition
Second Place, Juror: Susan Cross, Assistant Curator, Guggenheim Museum, NY
2001 New Jersey Medical Society Alliance Art Exhibition, First Place
2000 Mountain Art Show, Award of Excellence
2000 www.artadvocate.com, Curator's Choice
1996 University of Pennsylvania, Sewall Sillman Color Prize
1995 University of Pennsylvania, Angelo Savelli Painting Prize
1993 & 1994 Liquitex Excellence in Art Student Grant Competition 

Teaching Experience
2005 Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY; Intermediate Painting; Beginning, Intermediate, & Life Drawing 

2005 Irondequoit High School, Rochester, NY; Visiting Artist

2001-2003 Lafayette College, Easton, PA – Visiting Professor of Fine Arts
Courses: Principles of Studio Art, Drawing I, II

1996 – 1998 Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ 

Adjunct Professor of Fine Arts
Courses: Basic Design, Color Theory, Drawing I,
Art History: Renaissance through Contemporary
1997 Printmaking Council of New Jersey, North Branch, NJ
Silkscreen workshop for parents and children

Private and Public Collections

Lafayette College, Easton, PA

William Paterson University, Ben Shahn Galleries, Wayne, NJ

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, New Orleans, LA

Numerous Private Collections