Interrupted 

Process-driven, using non-traditional materials, I work intuitively to create contemplative abstract paintings that are rooted in and extracted from landscape and experience. Strongly influenced by the shore and woodlands of outer Cape Cod and Maine, my ‘research sketchbook’ consists of documentary photography and video of environmental installations I create as references for my mixed and multi-media works in painting and video projection.

Process intrigues me as I translate experience –my immersion/emersion– into visual language… from the tiniest grain of sand to the mountains of stone and architecture, from a drop of rain to a raging tsunami, the quietest sparkle of dawn to foreboding dusk. Incorporating the very elements that influence and inspire –clay, pigment, chemistry, technology– engages me to embrace the impact, to understand.

In this group of work I explore the idea of being “interrupted” while experiencing personal, physical, creative and artistic immersion and emersion. 

I paint, install, sketch, dig the earth, and take notes in the beauty of nature. I crave escape from the craziness of the world – no TV, no internet, no street noise, no interruptions… solitude.  In the studio I return – through gathered references – to nature. Channeling recollections of experience and collected documentation I distill my outdoor experience and observations. I draw on that… and then create paintings, made from the very elements that inspire me.

Using clay, pigment, graphite, ink, polymer, epoxy resin, video & technology I delve into my fascination with materials and process. Through observation, investigation, preparation, and organization I manifest in obsessive layering, adding/subtracting, and mark-making my translation.

Art historical references fill my mind as I recall the grande plaza and seaport paintings of Europe or the landscapes of American wilderness in the times before photography could capture the images to document and share. Paintings once produced to be acquired during ‘grande tours’ as extravagant ‘postcards’ lead me to the questions of ‘saving/capturing’ beyond memory and megabyte. Sunsets, sunlight, dunescapes, bird songs, sparkling water, crashing surf… How can I keep it? How can I have/save it? What is painting? What is paint? These works use part of the places– the dune clay of outer Cape Cod, the blue bay clay of northeast Maine– mixed and layered with the traditional mediums of painting and non-traditional materials to bring a part of the tangible into the realm of memory and dreams… interrupted.”