statement

My primary subject is still life. My work is overtly concerned with composition–within a picture, the objects function primarily as shapes of varying color, texture, value. I am attracted to my subjects sometimes because of their form and others because of their symbolic potential or personal significance. The collection of objects in my studio is kept in a shifting tableau that generates a dialogue between me, the objects, and the pictures–and so, my subjects have as much impact on me as I do upon them. Each picture is intended to operate independently, but can also be understood as part of a larger and open-ended whole. Although the non-objective concerns of design are an important concern, I also aim to create a convincing illusion of form, space and light. In part, I work in this way because it provides me with an evolving investigation, but primarily because I have faith in it. On this subject I can't hope improve on Mark Doty's "Still Life with Oysters and Lemon."* That there can never be too much of reality; that the attempt to draw nearer to it–which will fail–will not fail entirely, as it will give us not the fact of lemons and oysters but this, which is its own fact, its own brave assay toward what is. The content of my pictures is often meant to imply meaning–but is not meant to project a particular meaning. Extracting a message is the prerogative of the viewer.

Drawing is at the center of my studio work. I teach drawing and I believe that drawing is the keystone of art making. Drawing is more than making pictures–it is a vehicle for thought, understanding and expression.  My devotion to drawing tends to border on evangelical.

*Mark Doty, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, Beacon Press, Boston MA, 2001.

bio

born:1962, Ames, Iowa

education:

Louisiana State University, MFA, 2004
Meredith College, BA, 1989

selected awards/honors

Artist Project Grant, United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, 2010

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Local Color Gallery: One Thing, Raleigh, NC, 2009
Raleigh Times Gallery: Conversations, Raleigh, NC, 2007
Community Arts Center: Janet Link - recent paintings, Danville, KY, 2005
LSU School of Art Gallery: True Image, Baton Rouge, LA, 2004

selected group shows

Cabarrus County Arts Council Gallery: Making Arrangements, Concord, NC, 2011
Atherton Mill, sponsored by Elder Art Gallery: Carolina's Got Art, Charlotte, NC, 2010 & 2009
Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, Austin Peay State University: Border to Border X - Larson Biennial Drawing Competition, Clarksville, TN, 2005
Curris Center Gallery, Murray State university: Louisiana Six, Murray, KY, 2003