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“To an artist, a picture is both a sum of ideas and a blurry memory of ‘pushing paint,’ breathing fumes, dripping oils and wiping brushes, smearing and diluting and mixing. Blearly preverbal thoughts are intermixed with the namable concepts, figures and forms that are being represented.”

— James Elkins, What Painting Is 

Valley Forge, 9 x 9 oil on board (2022)

Statement

By learning how to see and how to think in paint, and by seeking awe through this practice, I find myself able to feel connected to something more expansive and thrilling than what might normally be perceived. The painting motifs and processes I’m drawn to result in the representation of some aspect of reality. But I’m less interested in an accurate description of that reality and more interested in a sincere expression of it — and then how the simple two-dimensional surface covered with marks of paint and shapes of value and color becomes vibrant with its own attractive drama or logic or DNA. This creative aspect of bringing a painting to life is pure magic to me.

Biography

I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the Brandywine Valley. My experience with studio painting began as a humanities major at Penn State University a few decades ago. After college as a painter in the early 90s, I served as a founding director for the Lancaster, PA-based nonprofit group New Art Voices, which provided alternative venues and multi-media exhibitions for regional artists. Around that time I began a 25-year career in public relations that, along with raising two beautiful daughters, would occupy much of my time. But in recent years with the freedom of semi-retirement I’ve again established a committed painting practice. A number of art schools, along with their incredible faculties of painters who generously teach, have been invaluable learning resources for me. These organizations include Winslow Art Center, Washington Studio School, Wayne Art Center, and Penn Studio School of Art

Education

Independent Study / 2018-2023

Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Penn State University / 1987

Associate of Science, Elizabethtown College / 1984

Exhibitions

Group 

Oxford Arts Alliance National Juried Exhibition All Things Being Equal –  Meditations on Balance, Juror Lisa Bartolozzi / Oxford, PA / 2024

Wayne Art Center Fall Members Juried Exhibition, Juror William Perthes / Wayne, PA / 2024

MH Art Gallery & Studio / Marietta Art Alive Light Within Juried Exhibition / Marietta, PA / 2024

Chester County Art Association Members Show / West Chester, PA / 2024

MH Art Gallery & Studio / Marietta Art Alive Night Trees Juried Exhibition / Marietta, PA / 2023

MH Art Gallery & Studio Plus Six Invitational Art Exhibition / Marietta, PA / 2023

Wayne Art Center Regional Juried Spring Open Exhibition, Juror Peter Van Dyck / Wayne, PA / 2023

MH Art Gallery & Studio / Marietta Art Alive Spaces Within Regional Juried Exhibition, Juror Heidi Leitzke / Marietta, PA / 2023

Philadelphia Sketch Club 2023 Domenic DiStefano Memorial Works on Paper Juried Exhibition, Juror Mick McAndrews / Philadelphia / 2023

Chester County Art Association Members Show / West Chester, PA / 2022

Oxford Arts Alliance National Juried Exhibition, Juror Kyle Staver / Oxford, PA / 2022

Oxford Arts Alliance Plein Air in the Parks Exhibition / Oxford, PA / 2022

Wayne Art Center Members Juried Exhibition, Juror Paul DuSold / Wayne, PA / 2021

Chester County Art Association Members Show / West Chester, PA / 2021

Wayne Art Center Expressions of Radnor / Wayne, PA / 2017

Lancaster Museum of Art Open Award Show (Honorable Mention) /  Lancaster, PA / 1995

The Brewery Gallery at Bube’s Brewery Two-Person Exhibit with Kassie Schelling / Mount Joy, PA / 1995

Lancaster Museum of Art Open Award Show / Lancaster, PA / 1994

Millersville University New Art Voices Invitational / Millersville, PA / 1993

New Art Voices Tobacco Warehouse Exhibition / Lancaster, PA / 1993

Solo 

Penn State Harrisburg / Harrisburg, PA / 1994

Harrisburg Area Community College / Lancaster, PA / 1993

Affiliations

Chester County Art Association

Wayne Art Center

Oxford Arts Alliance