Artist Statement

When the pandemic hit, I felt disconnected. Painting helped me reconnect with my world. I now take time to regularly go out into my community to paint en plein air, and take photos for paintings to do in my studio. This helps to ground me in my community and appreciate the beauty in which I live everyday.

Working on landscapes helped me appreciate how much of what we see and how I paint relies on the abstract shapes, lines, forms, and colors that underlie our perceived reality. The first 80% of a realistic painting is mostly unrecognizable as objects and setting, and has a beauty all its own. Focusing on these artistic elements for their aesthetic qualities has unlocked a parallel body of abstract work, that allows me to explore their beauty without the need to bring the work to a closed, recognizable object. These works become objects all their own.

Working back and forth from the realistic to the abstract helps me see and understand things in new ways, and each type of work feeds the other, adding depth and insight. I hope that the artwork I use to enter the world also helps others to connect with what they see and experience in the moment.

Biography

I graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture, then moved to Loveland, Colorado to work at a bronze foundry and pursue my art career.

A few years later, I discovered I also had a passion for teaching, and earned my licensure for K-12 art instruction and my Masters in Teaching at the University of Northern Colorado. While teaching full time, I continued to show and sell my work, expanding beyond sculpture to painting and mixed media, as well as playing around with other media.

I took a few years off from art production and sales while completing my Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Denver, where I also served as an adjunct professor. (If you are interested, my dissertation on the underachievement of creative students can be found at https://digitalcommons.du.edu/tls_doctoral/10/ ) With my degree complete, I have returned to art with a passion, and am once again participating in shows across the region.

I currently live in Fort Collins, Colorado, with my husband and three cats.