I would like to share a little of my past history as it relates to Art. After receiving Bachelor of Science Degree in Fine Art from SUNY Brockport, I worked as a Graphic Artist and manager of a gallery/artist supply shop. I lived in Europe for three years where I traveled extensively, exploring the richness in culture, history, Art, and Architecture. While raising my family, I wrote and illustrated a book and established my studio.
My studio concentrations are in ceramics, painting, and illustration. I have taught studio arts via private lessons for several years as well as workshops in papermaking, puppet making, and ceramics. When teaching within this capacity, I realized the immense satisfaction I received while working with children. I went back to college attending SUNY New Paltz for teacher certification in Art. I received a Master of Science in Art Education from SUNY New Paltz in December of 2003. In 2007 I held the honor of ‘Teacher of the Year’ in Poughkeepsie City School District. The 2018-2019 school year marked my 21st year teaching. I retired in 2019 and am currently a Ceramicist in Nyack, NY.
The two basic components of my work are the landscape and the figure. A Surrealist painter, I amplify expressive elements beyond traditional form and color through distortion and morphing. Distortion augments the emotional setting, creating a composition with color, unity, movement, and gestural lines. Distortion abstracts visual themes by stretching and pulling pictorial elements.
My methodology is straightforward; I’m inspired by an emotional theme; drawing and photographing related elements. The images are distorted using computer graphics and then redrawn to scale. My medium is oil, working in series, where the canvas or canvases become a stage, objects within the landscape are the players, and distortion the plot; pulling one scene to the next.
I have been influenced by many artists, the most prominent being, Kathe Kolowitz and her ability to depict the essence of humanity in the most emotional yet noble terms. Subsequently, my drawing style is bold, using strong, gestural line. Coqui Calderon’s work within her altruistic abstractions of the human spirit and Jolene Rickard with her ability to depict the symbiotic spirituality of earth and humankind.
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