| Artist
Statement
As a self-taught artist, I’ve been
painting and creating art in various forms for nearly a decade, beginning
with a career in technical theatre, primarily as a scenic
artist. After a few years in corporate marketing, I’ve
returned to a career as a full-time artist. My
background in the arts includes scenic art, murals, faux finish, book
arts, altered books, acrylic painting, collage, and mixed
media. I’m currently working primarily in mixed
media, incorporating acrylic paint, paper collage, pastel, and other
mediums into my pieces. I’m very inspired by urban
landscapes and industrial settings, but I also find peace in nature, so I
enjoy playing with the contrast of the natural and man made themes in my
work. Most of my work also includes “found” items,
another source of inspiration. Additionally, I’m an
avid reader, obsessed with books, words, poetry, and literature, so I find
ideas in the writing and scholarly work of others.
Finally, I have a passion for technology and a fascination with the
web. I believe that my interests and influences are
broad and varied, but share common threads, and feel this reflected in my
mixed media work. For me, creating art is a way of
exploring and studying thoughts, ideas, and problems.
My pieces often begin with a question. An
important part of my creative process is what I think of as
“percolation.” I need to spend time with an idea for a
few days, or possibly weeks, months, or even years.
Eventually, I’ll continue to work with the idea on paper in rough
sketches. Next, I begin to gather collage material for
the piece, often “living” with it, playing with it, and arranging it on
the dining room table or in the studio over a period of several
days. As I finally begin working on a piece, I move
back and forth through different media, building multiple layers of paint,
collage, and pastel. Visually, I’m excited by the mess
and chaos of this process creates around me, so I try to leave a portion
of each piece “rough,” capturing the natural drips, drops, and smudges
which occur as I work. |