ART WORKS
I have had a long and varied history of Art making. The following images illustrate the main directions I have taken. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them and have learned a great deal in the process. If you look closely you will see colors, themes and the ways of handling subject matter which carry through them all.
Working in fired clay taught me to embrace the “Happy Accident”, as my ceramic mentor Paul Soldner described it. You learn to work with the unexpected – something that happens during the process that you hadn’t planned on. This is the greatest challenge, and the greatest learning tool!
LANDSCAPE POTS - late 70’s
During most of the 70’s I worked as a potter, while I continued to draw and paint. I was attracted to the process and physicality of pottery, and although I no longer work in clay it remains a real passion. Towards the end of the 70’s I started to produce pieces with landscape scenes painted with airbrush and glaze pencil. These were all fired to a high temperature - cone 10 and 12.
LOW FIRE PAINTINGS IN CLAY - 80’s
I continued to explore this technique, working on raw clay, scraping through to produce sharp edges, incising lines for movement and pattern and using multiple firings at lower temperatures to bring out more color and detail. There was very little limit to what could be achieved. Here began my romance with flowers as subject matter; flowers continue to delight and challenge me every day, as I walk through my garden into my studio.
STILL LIFE ASSEMBLAGE - late 80’s into the 90’s
In the late 80’s I began work on assemblages which combined thrown and slab built elements – creating a frame and foreground for a painted scene which all together created a three dimensional still life.
PAINTINGS ON WOOD - early 90’s
In the early 90’s these pieces gave way to painting exclusively; this time on wood, often covered with patterned cloth or canvas or bits of collaged paper. I would paint many layers of underpainting over these “canvasses” then distress them with an electric sander, before the final subject painting, a simple image painted realistically, in monochrome.
TEAPOTS - mid to late 90’s
In the mid to late 90’s I moved back to ceramics – this time exclusively in low-fire: a series of fanciful teapots for the Gallerist Leslie Ferrin. These were constructed of cast shapes, some from cemmercial molds, some from molds I made myself. I assembled the pieces fresh from the molds, creating vessels in unlikely combinations that loosely represented teapots. You can imagine that I had a lot of fun with this series, and worked on it for several years.
ARRIVING AT CURRENT WORK
Following this I took work as an illustrator, which gave me time to begin to develop the work which is now my sole endeavor. I’ve always loved the look of line and color on paper, and I dove into this whole heartedly. I often add bits of collaged paper – images or text.
I describe my work below.
I draw what I see around me - I work quickly and discard a lot while I’m trying to get something I’m happy with. Sometimes this realization will take a few days, but the freshness of line and color is key. I’m particularly attracted to flowers and leaves and plant shapes; but also shadows - shadows through a window, shadows on the street.
I love to travel, what I bring back are shapes and colors, smells and tastes. Different combinations of these bring back the experience and I am transported in an instant, for an instant. The emotional residue of travel, of foreign experience, is what stays with me, and I can re-live the experience through my work.
My paintings are intended to be intimate in scale, and very personal. I want to draw the viewer to a place of emotional engagement; to be touched without touching, yet connected through looking.
I have had a long and varied history of Art making. The following images illustrate the main directions I have taken. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them and have learned a great deal in the process. If you look closely you will see colors, themes and the ways of handling subject matter which carry through them all.
Working in fired clay taught me to embrace the “Happy Accident”, as my ceramic mentor Paul Soldner described it. You learn to work with the unexpected – something that happens during the process that you hadn’t planned on. This is the greatest challenge, and the greatest learning tool!
LANDSCAPE POTS - late 70’s
During most of the 70’s I worked as a potter, while I continued to draw and paint. I was attracted to the process and physicality of pottery, and although I no longer work in clay it remains a real passion. Towards the end of the 70’s I started to produce pieces with landscape scenes painted with airbrush and glaze pencil. These were all fired to a high temperature - cone 10 and 12.
LOW FIRE PAINTINGS IN CLAY - 80’s
I continued to explore this technique, working on raw clay, scraping through to produce sharp edges, incising lines for movement and pattern and using multiple firings at lower temperatures to bring out more color and detail. There was very little limit to what could be achieved. Here began my romance with flowers as subject matter; flowers continue to delight and challenge me every day, as I walk through my garden into my studio.
STILL LIFE ASSEMBLAGE - late 80’s into the 90’s
In the late 80’s I began work on assemblages which combined thrown and slab built elements – creating a frame and foreground for a painted scene which all together created a three dimensional still life.
PAINTINGS ON WOOD - early 90’s
In the early 90’s these pieces gave way to painting exclusively; this time on wood, often covered with patterned cloth or canvas or bits of collaged paper. I would paint many layers of underpainting over these “canvasses” then distress them with an electric sander, before the final subject painting, a simple image painted realistically, in monochrome.
TEAPOTS - mid to late 90’s
In the mid to late 90’s I moved back to ceramics – this time exclusively in low-fire: a series of fanciful teapots for the Gallerist Leslie Ferrin. These were constructed of cast shapes, some from cemmercial molds, some from molds I made myself. I assembled the pieces fresh from the molds, creating vessels in unlikely combinations that loosely represented teapots. You can imagine that I had a lot of fun with this series, and worked on it for several years.
ARRIVING AT CURRENT WORK
Following this I took work as an illustrator, which gave me time to begin to develop the work which is now my sole endeavor. I’ve always loved the look of line and color on paper, and I dove into this whole heartedly. I often add bits of collaged paper – images or text.
I describe my work below.
I draw what I see around me - I work quickly and discard a lot while I’m trying to get something I’m happy with. Sometimes this realization will take a few days, but the freshness of line and color is key. I’m particularly attracted to flowers and leaves and plant shapes; but also shadows - shadows through a window, shadows on the street.
I love to travel, what I bring back are shapes and colors, smells and tastes. Different combinations of these bring back the experience and I am transported in an instant, for an instant. The emotional residue of travel, of foreign experience, is what stays with me, and I can re-live the experience through my work.
My paintings are intended to be intimate in scale, and very personal. I want to draw the viewer to a place of emotional engagement; to be touched without touching, yet connected through looking.
