“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, ancestral land of the Lenape people. My experience with studio painting began as a humanities major at Penn State University a few decades ago. After college 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.
Between then and now I’ve enjoyed a career in public relations while painting only occasionally, but always feeling the need to paint. So in recent years I’ve established a committed practice — one further fueled by the isolation required during the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of art schools, along with their incredible faculties of painters who generously teach, have been invaluable 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-present
Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Penn State University / 1987
Associate of Science, Elizabethtown College / 1984
Exhibitions
Group
Wayne Art Center Regional Juried Spring Open Exhibition, Juror Peter Van Dyck / Wayne, PA / 2023
MH Gallery / 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 8th Annual 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