Artist Statement:
My work captures the ineffability of childhood, delight in the fantastic ordinary, awakening in the viewer flickers of recollection that float like dust on a shaft of light. I am perpetually fascinated by movement—the perambulatory, dancing body, birds on the verge of flight, the transfer of light as it traverses and reflects varying surfaces—and images evoking this movement repeatedly emerge in my work. Form materializes naturally and unprovoked, from a childlike disregard and a willingness to follow blindly the movement of my hand across the canvas. Fine lines—scratches layered over contrasting chunky brushstrokes, daubs of light—unearth figures, suggestions of life in the dappled world of the painting.
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Dance:
Nearly 35 years of dancing and creating dance art installations yielded many dance-themed paintings. When immersed in Improvisation sessions, I connect with collaborators-dancers, and when taking a rest, I observe the joyful experience and make sketches of fellow dancers. This inside-out and outside-in approach captures the dynamic of intensity and relaxation in dancing bodies. The bodies are depicted using unstable, abstract forms and dynamic, expressive colors, thereby instilling a feeling of movement or movement potential, as the bodies playfully appear and disappear on the canvas. I am also drawn to the social and collaborative aspect of dance. As a painter, I spend a great deal of time alone, and this energy of collaboration and socializing gives me a sense of connection to the universe and something larger than myself. Because the collective group energy draws me to this subject, I do not paint individual faces or details on the dancers. The abstract energy and combination of colors produce the emotional meaning of the work.
Still Life:
Historically Still Life represents the transience of life where decay and vanity go hand in hand. My Still Life series reimagines the paintings of ordinary objects by imbuing them with life and suggesting possibilities for spontaneous movement. The ordinary object is made alive. This series reimagines stillness and transience with a life-affirming “YES!”
Boats:
Having sailed the Red Sea, Black Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, I observed the underlying flux in nature, particularly the resting, floating boats. My seascapes capture the permanence of change in life made manifest in the illusory stillness of floating boats.
Landscape:
While operating within the set rules of Landscape painting, I employ perspective and color in an imaginative and radical way to invoke a contemplation of the arch (the first principle of life) and rejuvenate the mind and body. When creating Landscape paintings I like to sketch in nature to transmit the distinct and spiritual experiences I have with the trees, the mountains, and the hills.