Growing up in South Jersey I was encouraged to build on my artistic abilities by my Mother, an artist and designer, and frequented art museums in the Philadelphia area, New York City and Washington DC. In high school, I was able to take classes at Philadelphia College of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Art. I then went on to earn my BFA cum Laude in Painting at Boston University. I fell in love with the area and stayed on after graduating. I continued to paint and pursued a career in Graphic Design to support myself. When I had my 2 children I invested my time and energy towards them. 15 years later I got back into painting by taking classes and workshops at Essex Art Center and Art New England.
In 2006 I had a solo exhibit of local landscapes at Stevens Memorial Library. Then in 2007 I was able to rent a small studio at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell and participated in regular Open Studios. I also joined a plein air painting group with whom I visited Monhegan Island to paint. I’ve exhibited at the Newburyport Art Association, Whistler House Museum of Art, and Bromfield Gallery. In 2018 at the ALL Gallery in Lowell juried group exhibit “Journeys”, I received First Place for my mixed media piece “Tapestry”. The juror, Karl Stephan said “It synthesizes sweet memories of journeys past”. More recently I have exhibited with the Experimental Art Group of the Rockport Art Association. I’ve also exhibited at local eateries including The Grog in Newburyport in 2022. View news article here. View online gallery here.
My paintings are personal expressions that play with visual elements of light, color and form to create a pictorial reality that is full of life. Whether working in portraiture, landscape, or abstraction, I always look for a natural dynamic that has interesting light, depth and movement. In my mixed media pieces, I combine acrylic paint, drawing media, and found materials, such as paper, fabric, prints, plastic packaging, layered and applied onto canvas or paper. This multitude of layers gives my work a tactile dimension and level of meaning beyond the conventional pictorial space. I hope that people can enjoy the visual experience of the subjects, the visual elements themselves, as well as the materials used.
“An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.” – Henri Matisse
