I am a Northwest native born in Snohomish, Washington. I have resided in Oak Harbor, Washington, for the last 51 years with the majority of that spent embracing a career as a secondary art teacher. I also taught intaglio printmaking at the local community college for many years.
I earned my MFA in painting and printmaking from Washington State University and studied art on a student exchange scholarship at Nihon University in Japan for a year. I was granted a one-year sabbatical to study art and architecture in Europe, Russia, and Israel including a month immersing myself in New York City’s art-rich culture.
I have been a student of the fine arts my entire adult life.
Among my goals as a non-representational abstract artist is to focus on the compositional elements of the work while linking them with more "poetic" components. A successful outcome depends on making deliberate choices while embracing the unexpected opportunities that support the art.
The words and works of many artists have played a significant role in my work. Among the better known are Motherwell, Diebenkorn, Graves, Daumier, Corot, Horiuchi, Rauschenberg, Pissarro, Reinhardt, Kandinsky, Millet, Constable, Rembrandt, Goya, David Smith, Henry Moore, Noguchi and Hofmann.
MY PAINTINGS
My paintings fall squarely into the category of non-objective abstract expressionism. In a sense it is the purest form of painting. To me it is as jazz is to music, or as poetry is to prose. Abstract expressionism has always challenged its viewers to explore new ways of enjoying the visual arts both spiritually and intellectually, by relying on composition to create the drama necessary to allow the painting to work as a piece of art. It is as legitimate as any form of realism. Andrew Wyeth’s realistic work might be compared to a very well-written novel, while the abstract expressionist's composition might be compared to the poet's use of words. It is this perspective that might assist in understanding the work I pursue and further help recognize how seriously it is approached. Good artwork is to be recognized not just for the skill that it requires (skill is not art), but more importantly, it should be recognized for its "depth" no matter what the form of composition.
My primary medium is acrylics on either museum board or on stretched canvas with a gesso-prepared surface. Although my work is abstract, the “inspiration” for much of it comes from the play of light—often from multiple sources, and shadows from and on architectural forms and often juxtaposed with organic forms. The Northwest coastal environment provides much of my palette. Compositional elements such as line quality, form, use of space and color are important to the nuances of the paintings.
MY SCULPTURE
To date, the mediums are either Corten steelorstainless steel. Corten steel, with its hard edges and rich, weather-induced patina, is presently my choice for outdoor sculpture. From a distance, the large geometric forms are strong, but elegant in their simplicity. A closer view presents captivating interior planes, drawing the viewer in and adding drama and depth to the composition. The sculptures of the Conical Étude, Reciprocity and Segmented Prism series continue to support the theme of strong composition through simplicity and elegance.
