Artist Statement

My greatest passion in life is to communicate with others through art. I paint to connect with people, to share my ideas about the world and humanity through color, shape, and texture. I have spent most of my life in the service of art. My background includes formal training in studio art and art history as well as employed and volunteer work with non-profit arts organizations. However, my favorite hours are those spent at the easel exploring new ways to convey ideas through paint.

I use expressive, gestural brushwork and layered painting techniques to create energy and vitality in my work. Favoring thick paint and palette knives along with brushes, I build texture and depth on the canvas. I incorporate neutrals and earth hues to stress the “natural” in my work, to convey the sense that any subject, even the most artificial, is linked to the earth. As a result of these choices my paintings embody the spirit of their subjects as well as their forms. Each new look brings greater understanding to the viewer, and bold compositions admired from a distance yield to tonal and textural nuances upon closer inspection.

I developed a passion for painting objects as a result of my university studies in archaeology. Through student research and work as a graphic artist at MASCA, the research lab at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, I had the privilege of handling restricted artifacts in Penn’s world-renowned collection. As I turned over delicate Roman glass vessels in my hands and watched light fall across the point of a crumbling arrowhead, I was struck by the power of material culture. Innumerable stories dust the surfaces of these objects we create, use, and discard through daily life. My goal as an artist is to capture these stories and to reveal their power and beauty to others.

My enthusiasm for objects found a new voice when I became a mother in 2007. As I watch my daughter at play I am reminded of our powerful link to objects during this crucial stage of human development. We navigate early childhood as empty vessels, looking for ways to fill ourselves with essential information about our world and the codes that govern our civilization. Ultimately, blocks, balls, and other playtime toys shape our understanding of what it means to be human. Through my art I celebrate the profound sensual and psychological impact these objects have on our being.