Artist statement

My grandmother and uncle, among other family hobbyists, have instilled creativity and exploration in me from a young age. I treasured visits to my uncle’s art studio, sat in awe as my grandmother put paint to canvas and excitedly participated in my father’s entrepreneurial innovations. I have picked up the mantle from these artists in my family who have gone before me. 

For many years I had a rewarding career in Commercial Graphic Design. My days were spent listening to clients and bringing their visions to life through pixels. Although I enjoyed this, it gave me little opportunity to express my personal creative vision. The foray back into traditional artistic endeavors was a way for me to get my hands dirty again and allow my imagination to be free to play.

Color has always be a huge draw for me. It speaks directly to my soul. Color is obviously everywhere...but sometimes a glimpse of a new or unexpected color combination will catch my eye and inspire and delight me. I can’t explain it, but I have an immediate and visceral reaction to certain combinations. My paintings explore this interplay between combinations of color and my reactions to them. Everything might begin with color, but it is through the use of texture that I seek to communicate the emotions they evoke. To me, it’s about finding the joy in these unexpected combinations.

I love to blur the boundaries between sculpture and painting by innovating new ways to use paint. This starts by using a unique combination of high quality acrylic paint and medium to get the exact hue and consistency for each 3-dimensional part of the painting. Once this desired balance is achieved, then the process of sculpting takes place. A favorite technique of mine to use palette knives, cake piping tools and other random objects to apply thick amounts of the paint mixture, in order to create an extreme impasto style. Another is to dry the paint, cut it into shapes and mold them into place. Both of these methods push my paintings into the realm of sculpture. Paper and fabric add a bit of mixed-media flair to each piece. The cumulative effect is that my art is dynamic; always sending me into new directions.

When creating my collage pieces the process is a bit different because I am assembling dry pieces of paint and paper and other random found objects. These wooden panels usually include vintage encyclopedia pages, cut up canvas and dried paint from piping bags or leftover palette knife smears. Then the objects are arranged and sealed in place with resin. I’m drawn to the idea that left over items, that otherwise would have been thrown away, can be given a new life and be used to create something beautiful — just like the Lord has done for me.

By combining these elements, I try to create work that evokes joy and delight in the viewer. 

Awards

Merit Award, Q-Fest, 2022
Outstanding Local Artist Award, Laumeier Art Fair, 2022
Merit Award, Q-Fest, 2021
Award of Excellence, Lowertown Art and Music Festival, 2019
Award of Recognition, Mosiacs Fine Art Festival, 2018
Art Fair at Queeny Park, Judges Favorite, 2018
Best of Two-Dimensional Art, Cedarhurst Art & Craft Show, 2018
Best of Show, Painting, Edwardsville, 2017
Award of Excellence, Lowertown Art and Music Festival, 2017

Permanent Displays

Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, IL, Surgery Expansion Wing
SIH Cancer Center in Carterville, IL

Art Fairs

Some of the Art Fairs I have been privileged to participate in

• Cantigny Art Fair, Wheaton, IL

• Cedarhurst Art Fair in Mt. Vernon, IL

• Edwardsville Art Fair in Edwardsville, IL

• Highland Art in the Park in Highland, IL

• Kentuck Festival of the Arts, Northport, AL

• Laumeier Art in the Park in St. Louis, MO

• Lowertown Art Fair in Paducah, KY

• Magic City Art Connection, Birmingham, AL

• Midsummer Arts Faire, Quincy, IL

• Midwest Salute to the Arts in Fairview Heights, IL

• Mosaics Fine Art Festival, St. Charles, MO

• Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City, MO

• Schlafly Art Outside in Maplewood, MO

• StrangeFolk in O’Fallon, IL

• St. Charles Fine Art Fair in St. Charles, IL

• Webster Arts Fair, Webster, MO

• 57th Street Art Fair in Hyde Park, IL