ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

I began serious study of painting in 2000 with classes in watercolor at the local art center in Bloomington.  I moved into oil painting and studied at various times in classes and workshops with Robert Eberle, Patty Rhoden Bartels, Kwang Cha Brown, and Michael Teague. I studied pastels with Carol Strock Wasson and Mary Ann Davis. I traveled to Houston, Texas  More recently, I have studied with Robert Hoffman, Joel Knapp and Douglas David. and worked privately with nationally-recognized abstract landscape artist Kathleen Earthrowl.

 Awards include first place (twice) in the Brown County Art Guild Patron’s Show – pastel and oil, People’s Choice (the only award given) at the 2007 Artful Dining Gala in Brown County (pastel), third place in the Brown County Art Guild Senior Show (pastel), honorable mention in the Art Guild (oil) and third place in the 2008 T.C. Steele spring Paint-out (pastel). In late 2008 I was awarded a “Prairie Partner Award” at the juried Sycamore Land Trust-Gallery North show Art for All Seasons for an oil abstracted landscape.  I have juried into the Indiana State Fair in both oil and pastel, the Brown County Studio and Garden Tour (member since 2006), Fall for Art in Nashville, IN, and was a member artist in Gallery North on the Square in Bloomington for four years.  I was major exhibitor at an abstract show at Gallery North in April 2008 called “Absolutely Abstract!” A piece of mine was juried into the National Abstract Show in Indianapolis in 2008.  An abstract piece was juried into the Pendleton Art Center annual show in Rising Sun, Indiana. I have also been represented by the Venue gallery in Bloomington.  In 2009 I was organizing member of the new Hoosier Artist gallery in Nashville, Indiana, a cooperative that has grown to 24 members.  I was juried into the Indiana Artisans project to market note cards based on my abstracts. I am participating with a booth in the Indiana Artisan Marketplace at the State Fairgrounds April 14-16. I continue to work in oil, pastel and acrylic (abstract).  I have been invited to present a one-person show in the Bloomington City Hall  In August, I will display my abstracts again in a two-person show with local artist Patricia Rhoden Bartels at Healing Arts Indy in Indianapolis.  In October, two other pastel artists and I will present a pastel show at the John Waldron Art Center in Bloomington. atrium in July, 2011.  I have accepted an invitation for a solo show at the Phi Gallery at Hotel Indigo in Columbus, Indiana from October 1 - November 30. This will be an abstract show.

 My pastel “Lake Solitude” was accepted into the 2010 Hoosier Salon annual show. I have shown and/or participated in events and shows at the John Waldron Art Center in Bloomington, Brown County Art Gallery and Brown County Art Guild in Nashville, T.C. Steele paint-outs, Great River paint-out in Hanover, IN, and organized a four-person show that ran for three months in Nashville at Chateau Thomas Winery.  I participated in Indiana Heritage Arts “Art around Town” program.  I maintain membership in IHA, Hoosier Salon, Southside Art League, Friends of T.C. Steele and other local organizations.  I was Artist in Residence at the T.C. Steele State Historic Site in June, 2009.

As an active community artist, I have served for three years as President of Art Alliance Brown County, the county’s largest artist organization, where I organized the Artist at Work program, helped develop the now annual Artful Dining Gala fundraiser, and organized the ongoing Village Art Walk.  Additionally, I led abstract painting workshops at the West Baden Hotel in the French Lick Springs complex.  I hold workshops at my home studio as well.

My home studio in rural Brown County is called “Les Nymphéas” (the waterlilies) and is designed on the concept of Monet’s Giverny studio and grounds, complete with fenced pond and Japanese bridge, studio filled with antiques with a French flair, and acres of landscaped grounds.  It is featured on the annual Studio and Garden Tour and has been featured on the front page of the local newspaper as well as in periodic tourist publications.  During 2007 and 2008 I operated a studio/gallery in downtown Nashville “Contemporary Art Experience” to feature my contemporary work (abstracted landscapes and non-objective paintings) and provide painting lessons. The Bloomington Herald-Times published a feature article I wrote about decorating with original art, in the 2007 home show supplement. 

ABSTRACT STATEMENT

Like most Abstract artists, I came to this technique later in my career after having learned the basic rules of form, composition, values, color and technique.  My style is Abstract Expressionist- Non-Objective which is challenging because it consists purely of composition, color, values and texture, absent a subject to base the painting on. Wassily Kandinsky, often considered the first abstract artist, said “Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet.  This last is essential.”

 Abstract Expressionism was often called “Action painting” due to its physicality.  It is very freeing to stroke on molding paste with broad strokes of a large palette knife, swipe an oversized brush through a canvas, glue on sand, pumice, and other elements for built-up structure.  I may use a rag to dab on color contrasts or eventually lay the painting on the floor and drip on thin streams of paint in a determined pattern.  My paintings require multiple layers of ground (gesso or undercoats), structural elements, paint and often a final coat of gloss or varnish.  My compositions may be inspired by a shadow on the wall, a Chinese calligraphy character, or nothing at all.  I often begin with a general idea and let the painting determine its own design.  I commonly alter colors and form as I progress.  The composition should work from any angle and I may turn it upside down or sideways before determining its final orientation.  As an interior design fan, I enjoy creating a large piece that can serve as a room’s focal point. 

Abstract work forces the viewer to create their own reality – each sees something different, making the painting their personal discovery.  Viewers of abstracts can’t always say why they like a particular work – they just know they do and, in the end, that’s what counts, isn’t it?