Artist Statement

     I am interested in the therapeutic value of nature, and the idea of bringing some of this benefit to the viewer.  I see the outside world and open space as a conscious presence with nature providing a feeling of freedom and balance. This perspective allows me to explore the technical challenges of painting landscapes.

I enjoy creating art in its opposite extremes and maximizing the scope of my experiences. Total abstraction contrasts with realism, and the tangible or tactile nature of ceramics contrasts with the more cerebral act of drawing.  I express things through a variety of media including gouache, acrylic, ceramics, charcoal/pencil drawings and photography.

My abstracts are meditations on color and shape. They draw from the subconscious and imagination, and allow me to dwell in a stillness and contemplation that I find helpful to my state of mind. 

Landscapes

History:

 I made a few drawings of landscapes during college.  Afterwards, I began observing the oak trees in the public parks of New Orleans and noticed how the trees created a unique environment and played an essential role in the colorful character of the city.  I began to work on larger canvases.  After moving several times, I restarted landscape painting while living in the countryside of Pennsylvania in 2013 and worked in gouache on canvas.  I continued in Charleston, WV after obtaining studio space there, and started the current series in acrylic on the Kanawha State Forest in early 2019.

Process:

While hiking local nature trails I make a series of photographs and collage them together or draw directly from a scene and finish from photographs in the studio.  Using plein air view, single photos or a collage of photos to generate a composition, I draw onto the canvas, sometimes using multiple canvases connected together to create one image. Using this technique, I seek to express expansive vertical or horizontal space.  I am also interested in creating a sense of movement through the energetic application of paint.

Abstracts

History:

I drew from early in my childhood-both from life and abstract.  I was introduced to abstract art at a young age and had my own instinctive understanding of it.  My childhood style holds a lot of meaning for me and comes from subconsciously doodling with lines and shapes that represent emotions and thoughts.  As I grew up it became a tool for objectifying feelings through the act of translating them into a visual representation.  It later became a tool for maintaining a creative outlook even during times of stress or disconnectedness or for simply staying connected with creative thinking.  Having to start and stop my work several times, I always looked to my small-scale abstraction to carry me through the times when I was not able access studio space or nature.

My current series of abstracts is intended as a meditation on color and shape.  The push and pull between two and three dimensions depicted in simple color schemes is often my entry point into the creative process.

Process:

I draw small  designs not distinguishing between good or bad, and just allow my creative impulses to happen.   Later I choose one image, enlarging it in pencil on a wood board, painting in gouache and altering the design gradually until the surface is completed.

I play with the treatment of the surface, color, shape, and light source. 

Ceramics

History:

I spent a lot of time as a kid on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.  One of my treasured memories is finding clay underneath the sand that I carried back to the house and formed into small bowls, which I lined up on an outside fireplace.  It was wonderful to be given time for tactile experiences which I could carry for the rest of my life.   At the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts I took pottery lessons which also helped me as an adult in the pottery studio in Charleston WV.  My maternal grandmother, Elise Cambon likes to see the pieces I make because she was also on the wheel at Newcomb Pottery in New Orleans while she was in college in the 1940’s. 

Process

For about three years I experimented making various forms on the wheel working up slowly into larger and larger forms.  Each piece has a unique shape that is intended to fit within the family of shapes that I am creating.