ARTIST STATEMENT
My work draws from numerous sources, ancient and contemporary, to blend personal experiences with archetypal images. The use of drawings and statuary from early Mexican cultures reflects my abiding attraction to the country where I spent a formative part of my childhood. I particularly relate to the graphic quality of Aztec and Mayan art and when my work became focused on archetypal ideas I turned to these images as fitting representations. I also use western imagery, as in cowgirl/cowboy, which references the next stage of my youth, when I lived in California. I have retained a fondness for my early role models and they too have certain mythological qualities that I relate to. My other main sources of material are the creatures of land, sea, and air that I’ve encountered in my more recent past. All these figurative elements function on at least two levels: as their own essential beings and as archetypal metaphors. I have been concentrating on printmaking, specifically monoprinting and screenprinting, for the past twenty-five years. My background was primarily in painting and collage and I find the process of monoprinting to be an ideal synthesis of these two mediums.
BIO
Originally from New York City I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1966. My mediums were painting and collage at this time and continued to be until I started investigating printmaking. I took a class in 1994 in the printmaking department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and some mini-terms for several years after that and I continue to do my monoprinting and screenprinting there. I worked as a freelance artist and for publishers doing paste-ups and layouts. I taught art for over twenty years in a variety of settings and I have been a member of The Art Market Gallery, a co-operative gallery in Knoxville, TN since its inception in 1982. Besides always having my work on display along with the other juried members, I have been involved with the display committee since the first year. I also exhibit my work in solo and group shows and participate in juried exhibitions throughout the United States. In the last ten years I have exhibited work in over one third of the states in the US and have received awards in national exhibitions in Alabama, California, Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.
