My work is a celebration of the natural world around me, a space so personal because it represents what I believe to be a journey through the infinite abstract possibilities found in the exquisiteness of nature. My journey begins through the lens of a camera, however, the visible end product is not a photograph. It is to capture a moment full of life, never to be seen exactly the same way again, and transform it into the traditional artistic medium of paint. It is a translation of one reality, caught forever in the time it took to snap the picture, and defined by the challenges of translating that moment onto a canvas. My goal is to catch the viewer’s attention on the surface, remove the viewer from an external space, and transport him or her into a visual aesthetic solace, silent and uncomplicated. It is a place, that has, for the time it took to create, become an “extension” of my own intimacy with the subject.

Having grown up in an urban setting, I had limited opportunity to experience or appreciate nature. In my early twenties I developed quite a serious interest in photography. Although I was living and working in New York City, I began to spend a great deal of my recreational time in Vermont. Eventually, the subject matter of my photographs not only chronicled my impressions of life in New York, but included what I remember as an “explosion” of creative enthusiasm for every morsel of nature’s amazing fabric. This level of fascination, with what I think of as my “naturescapes,” has remained a constant part of my life. It is completely natural that my emotional commitment to nature, as well as photography, would become an intrinsic element of my art as a painter.

I hope that I have begun, and will continue, to posses a definitive signature with my paintings. They are not broad sweeping landscapes, instead they are complex, deliberate and precise microcosms found “close to the earth.” Each work presents a unique set of challenges. My fascination with the interplay of water (the moveable and sometimes intangible element), and the solidarity of something rooted in the earth, alive and growing, has been evident in several of my paintings. In my search for a subject, I attempt to photograph images that contain an extraordinary amount of detailed information, while remaining subtle enough for the viewer to question what he or she is looking at. I place a great deal of importance upon the interrelationships of textures and patterns. At times, I will incorporate a hint of decay, suggesting not only life’s imperfections, but the fragile and fleeting moments occurring in nature. My work is always about “mood,” whether it be tranquil, threatening, chaotic, mysterious or just what I see as a sublime instant. The quintessence of my camera “sketch,” arduously produced on the canvas, synthesizes my personal relationships with nature and art.

Biography

I am a native of New York, and have worked for over twelve years as a Production Supervisor for major publications and direct mail advertising agencies. After raising a family and operating a stained glass studio in the lower Hudson Valley, I was accepted as a Fine Arts Major at the School of Visual Arts in New York City in the Spring of 1998. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a nomination for honors in the class of 2003. I am presently represented by Viridian Artists in Chelsea, New York.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2007 Monmouth University, 800 Gallery, West Long Branch, NJ
2007 “Naturescapes” - Croton Free Library, Croton-On-Hudson, NY
2006 “Naturescapes” - Viridian Artists, New York

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2008 Northern Westchester Hospital Show, Mt. Kisco, NY
2007 40th Anniversary Show , Viridian Artists, New York, NY
2007 Paintings & Sculpture by No. Westchester Artists, Croton. NY
2007 Jewish Community Center of Scarsdale, Scarsdale, NY
2007 Croton Council on the Arts. The Art Barn Gallery, Ossining, NY
2006 “The Areality Show: Whose Reality?” Viridian Artists, New York
2006 Croton Council on the Arts, The Art Barn Gallery, Ossining, NY
2006 “Big City Concerns” Fountain Street Gallery, Cape Girardeau, MO
2005 “City Lights” Viridian Artists, New York, NY
2005 Northern Westchester Hospsital, Mt. Kisco, NY – curated by Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2005 “Inklings: Drawing in the 21st Century” Viridian Artists, New York
2005 “Vibrations” New Viridian Artists, Viridian Artists, New York, NY
2005 “Love on the Wild Side” Viridian Artists, New York
2004 “You & Us” Viridian Artists, New York, NY
2004 Hammond Museum, South Salem, New York “Real to Unreal” curated by the Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2003 Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 107th Annual Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York, NY
2003 Chautauqua Center for the Visual Arts National 2003 Competition, Chautauqua, New York - Juror, Michael Gitlitz, Director of Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA, 3rd Annual National Juried Exhibition - Juror, Robert Fishko, Director of Forum Gallery, New York, NY
2001 “The American Rivers” Exhibition, Great River Arts Institute, Walpole, NH, a two year museum touring exhibition. Jurors: Carl Belz, Managing Editor of Art New England and Curator Emeritus, Rose Museum at Brandeis University, Jeffrey Rosenheim,Curator of Photography, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Linda Simmons, Curator Emeritus of Prints & Drawings, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC
2001 Viridian Artists, New York 12th Annual Competition - Juror, Ann Lampe, Assistant Curator, Whitney Museum of Art, New York