statement

I am a painter and draughtsman; my subject is most often still life and the work is overtly concerned with composition. Within the picture the objects function primarily as shapes of varying color, texture, value. I am attracted to my subjects because of their form, symbolic potential or personal significance. The collection of objects in my studio is kept in a shifting tableau that generates a dialogue between the objects, the pictures, and me. Each picture is intended to operate independently, but can also be understood as part of a larger and open-ended whole. Although design is an important concern, I also try 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 essentially because I have faith in it. On this subject I can't 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 believe that drawing is the keystone of art making. Drawing is more than making pictures - it is a vehicle for thought, expression, and understanding (form, space light, design). My devotion to drawing borders on evangelical.

*Mark Doty, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon. Boston: Beacon Press p. 6, 2001.

bio

born: 1962, Ames, Iowa

education

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

selected awards/honors

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

selected publications

INDA 6. Cincinnati, OH: Manifest Press p. 105, 2011

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Roundabout Art Collective: under construction, Raleigh, NC, 2012
Local Color Gallery: one thing, Raleigh, NC, 2009
Raleigh Times Gallery: Conversations, Raleigh, NC, 2007
Community Arts Center: Recent Paintings, Danville, KY, 2005

selected group shows

Rebus Works: Via Penland, Raleigh, NC, 2011
Cabarrus County Arts Council Gallery: Making Arrangements, Concord, NC, 2011
Atherton Mill, sponsored by Elder Art Gallery: Carolina's Got Art, Charlotte, NC, 2009 & 2010
Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, Austin Peay State University: Border to Border X, Larson Biennial Drawing Competition, Clarksville, TN, 2005