statement

My work explores the metaphysical realm of emotionality through a painting and drawing process that employs physical forces. I depict emotional energies such as grief, despair, isolation, and wrath by utilizing physical energies such as gravity, water erosion, and sedimentation. By incorporating natural forces into my process, I am simultaneously exalting natural order while decrying the iniquities created by human order. My creative process also acts as a metaphor for the themes of powerlessness that inspire my work.

Both the emotions I depict and the process I use are rooted in natural energies; therefore I refer to my work as a New Naturalism. Rather than using 'naturalism' in the traditional aesthetic sense, in reference to a precise duplication of nature's outward appearance, I explore a concept of naturalism that involves obedience to natural forces. In the words of Robert Motherwell, "one might say that the true way to 'imitate' nature is to employ its own processes."

bio

born: 1978, Las Vegas, NV

education

Radford University, MFA, 2011
Christopher Newport University, BA, 2007

selected awards/honors

First Place at 7th Annual Juried Art Show, Craddock Terry Gallery, Lynchburg, 2015
Best in Show at the New Waves Exhibition, VA Museuam for Contemporary Art, VA Beach, 2013
Best in Show at Peninsula Fine Arts Center's 2010 Biennial, Newport News, 2011
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Graduate Fellowship, Richmond, 2011

selected publications

International Painting Annual 5. Cincinnati, OH: Manifest Press p. ?, 2015
Artists to Look Out For, vol 1. Truth or Consequences, NM: Starry Night Programs p. 91, 2014
Direct Art, vol 20. Hudson, NY: Slowart Productions p. 18-19, 2014

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Walker Fine Arts Center: Dark Age, Martinsville, VA, 2015
Perspective Gallery: Conjunction, Blacksburg, VA, 2015
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: A New Naturalism, Richmond, VA, 2012
Phoebus Art Gallery: An Evening with Shaun Whiteside, Hampton, VA, 2009

selected group shows

Marshall University's Fine Arts Center: 4th Annual Juried Exhibition, Huntington, WV, 2015
Artspace Gallery: Radius 250, Richmond, VA, 2015
National Art Center: New Artist Unit 21, Tokyo, Japan, 2014
Northern Arizona University Art Museum: Painting in the World- Reflections on Politics, Violence, and Reconciliation, Flagstaff, AZ, 2014