Bio:
I’m a process and materials-driven artist who thrives on experimentation, imagination, and discovery. I live and work in Olympia, Washington and have spent the majority of my 74 years in the Pacific Northwest. My personal history includes a career in teaching; graduation from the University of Wisconsin, Asian Studies; and a Master’s in Education from Seattle Pacific University. After a varied career of teaching in public schools, concluding with 17 years at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, I retired from employment and began pursuing new artistic endeavors. I took several art classes at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, graduated from the Seattle Artist Trust’s EDGE Program; and became actively involved in several arts organizations.
I’ve enjoyed opportunities to have my work exhibited in galleries and educational settings throughout the Pacific Northwest, including shows at Lower Columbia College (Longview), Pierce College (Puyallup), Tacoma Community College (Gig Harbor), SalonRefu (Olympia), B2Gallery (Tacoma), Ryan James Fine Art Gallery (Kirkland), Vashon Center for the Arts, and The WA Department of Ecology. I’m gratified to have my work in numerous private and public collections. UW Medicine purchased my work for their new clinic in Olympia, and most recently, a collection of nine of my paintings was purchased by the Washington State Arts Commission, now permanently installed at The Evergreen State College in Olympia WA.
Artist Statement:
These paintings are an outcome of my recent experimentation with some new-to-me materials and processes. In format and style, the paintings may be recognizable as a continuation of some of my earlier work, yet, larger in size.
Sometimes the discovery of a new material, or tool, or process can inspire new possibilities in one’s artwork. For me in this case, the catalyst was the discovery of tar as a painting medium, and tar paper as a surface to paint on. It was a couple of years ago that I became enamored with tar. Such a beautiful substance – thick, richly hued black and earth tones, shiny, gooey, with a semi-gloss finish that just feels good and honest. Inspired by artists before me such as Anselm Kiefer, Guy Anderson, Morris Graves, and Theaster Gates, who have used it to great effect, I began experimenting. I found a tar-derived product called roof sealant used by roofers to protect against moisture. It can be thinly applied with a brush or thickly with a trowel. At the same time, I came across another product that was bound to change my work - a deliciously smooth and absorbent black paper, sold in big, wide rolls – “roofing felt” a.k.a. tar paper. When unrolled, it drapes gracefully and can be hung on the wall as a scroll, frameless. Perfect for the large scale, experimental paintings I wanted to try.
Some of the other materials* used in these new paintings include:
re-cycled posters and art papers
acrylic, oil, and spray paints
metallic pigments and powders
hand painted papers for collage elements
lots of drawing supplies
* Note that most of these materials are not archival, nor expected to survive long enough to find a place in posterity… but that’s not the point here.
As for the motivation and theme of these new paintings, they are also consistent with some of my past work. The motivation came, in part, from an inescapable feeling of the increasing “darkness” of our times (which could be discussed at length). However, I need to add that this perceived condition has also served to reinforce and deepen my desire to focus on and create paintings that affirm the existence of “light” – an affirmation that will add to our sense of well-being and optimism. By overlaying a symbol of hope and beauty (the circle, in golden colors) on top of a starkly dark background, I want to show two sides of the same reality – the dark and the light, the ugly and the beautiful as they exist simultaneously; with the lightness symbolically transcending the darkness. I paint because I love the materials and processes of making art, but when these things can be married to the message – the dualities – inherent in our reality, well, I love it even more!