statement

I am a portrait and genre painter and sculptor who uses a naturalistic and realistic style. By naturalism I mean the type of art that pays attention to very accurate and precise details and portrays things as they are in a natural setting.

My inspiration is the character and individuality of my models and subjects, which I try to capture in my portraits. I only work from life, for I feel it's the only way to see the intricacies of the subject's form but also the only way to interact and be inspired by the personality of the life in front of me. Painting is a way of reading the world and getting lost in observing it, but it's also an interaction, an understanding, and a relationship. Every individual has something that is unique. I'm fascinated to learn each particular person's character, traits, thoughts, and quirks. And no matter how different we are as individuals, there is an underlying element of commonality. We can all relate to art that reveals someone's contained emotions and inner thoughts, that triggers a glimpse into humanity. There is no greater beauty and truth than Nature itself, and I believe that nothing can be made up that is as powerful, grand, or intriguing.

I draw artistic inspiration from many artists, especially the Naturalists of the late 19th century (Emile Fraint, William Bliss Baker), the late 19th Century Russian Realists (Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi), the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, and contemporary artists Bruno Walpoth, Sally Mann, and Nicola Hicks.
And I find these artists's quotes particularly apt and inspiring:

"We have to teach our eyes to look at nature, and there are many of us who have never seen it and never will." --Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin

"However clever you may be, Nature is your superior; however great your talent, she is greater: and if you only obey her you are sure to not be beside the mark. Great artists are truthful, and it is Nature who has taught them truth." --Gustave Fraipont

I have spent the last year opening up a studio/ atelier in Philadelphia called the Cambridge Street Studios. Working along with three fellow artists, I have renovated an old carriage stable into an inviting studio space. Here, as the primary instructor, I teach the methods I learned from the Grand Central Academy in New York City, with an emphasis on naturalism. The studio focuses on cast drawing, figure drawing and painting, and figure sculpture.  Along with building my own body of work, I currently feel the need and desire to give back and help make available the techniques of figurative realism that have been lost for generations. I also travel and teach summer workshops all over the United States. For more information please visit www.cambridgeststudios.com

bio

born: 1977, Soquel, California

education

Water Street Atelier at The Grand Central Academy of Art, 2007-2010
Laguna College of Art and Design, BFA, 2001

selected awards/honors

Honorable Mention, Butler Institute of American Art , 2011
Alfred Ross Achievement Award, Grand Central Academy, 2008 & 2010
First Place Scholarship Award, Art Renewal Center, 2009
Morris and Alma Schapiro Achievement Award, Grand Central Academy, 2009

selected publications

The Classicist NO. 8,9, & 10. New York, NY 2009-2011
American Artist Drawing Magazine, Grand Central Academy, New York, May 2009

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Fine Arts League of the Carolinas Gallery,  Show, Asheville, NC

selected group shows

Butler Institute of American Art, National Midyear Show, Youngstown, Ohio, 2012
Greenhouse Gallery, International Salon, Texa, 2012
The Brigham Galleries, Stories of Contemporary Realism, 2012
Fine Arts League of the Carolinas Gallery, Group Show, Asheville, NC, 2011