Statement

I strive for visual tension expressed through the reaching, groping, and agonizing of angular anatomy - knees, knuckles, and wrists. The human figure has always been the major focus of my painting. For me, only rarely are other subjects able to impart the power and energy of the nude figure.

My work is enigmatic, without apology. I believe that meaning is constructed at the point where art and the viewer interact. Both the artist and the viewer bring something to this artistic interaction, and the experience is different for each of us, every time. I am content with this ambiguity. I like that it challenges the viewer.

I anticipate that the viewer will be challenged and even disturbed by my work. In turn, my challenge is to portray those qualities the viewer will grasp and understand as universally human, that we are exposed, disconnected and vulnerable.

Biography

I was born in St. Albans, Vt. and moved to Bradenton Fl. when I was in the third grade. I graduated from Palmetto High and my mother thought I should only take secretarial courses. That didn't work out very well.  I attended Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, and lived at home in Bradenton Fl. I dropped my mother off at work at the Ringling residence in the morning & picked her up after her work to go home but the Ringling Museum and Residence became major influences. I still picture the Rubens' cartoons in the main room and the Rembrandts in other rooms. I missed out on campus life but there were other compensations.  I paid for my schooling by being a quick-sketch artist on the midway at Cedar Point in Ohio during the summers for several years. I made $.40 cents for each sketch. They were billed as taking 5 minutes for a dollar. The 4th of July was usually the biggest day of the summer. I would average 350 to 400+ on that one day.  For some reason that experience didn’t discourage me from pursuing an art career. Divorcing the commercial  from the emotional became a habit that has persisted the rest of my life.  I came to believe that schools are good for teaching technical skills but to try to make art, it takes the solitary act of doing it every day.