Artist Statement
I make things with paint and clay. I have also recently begun making large graphite drawings of still lifes.
Though the three seem very disparate, they all share a common germ. When I look for the common threads that unite them, these are those that are obvious to me.
Whether paint, pastel or glaze, I am attracted to the emotional power of color. In the same way clay can be pushed into form, I tend to push paint in a way that literally defines forms with its physical state as well as the illusion of form that results from perspective and the value (lightness or darkness) of color.
On the potter’s wheel I apply pressure to push the wet clay (a material made from the by- product of volcanoes, ground by wind and water over billions of years into the fine substance peculiar to our planet) into forms that rise up into space, and curve in graceful, balanced, elegant shapes. The upward, outward energy of the piece knows no bounds as it travels toward space. In order to form a vessel, an inner space must be created which travels inward toward deep, emotional places.
My painting involves landscapes, portraits and figures. The landscapes honor the ancient history of the birth and evolution of the earth….a planet made of rock, water and air and formed from forces of fire, water, wind and pressure. People, though each generation seems to think it has just invented life, are descendants of an ancient past. Made of rock, air and water, we are formed from forces of heat (love), fire (hate), pressure (social conformity), water (cleansing and enlightenment) and wind (communication). People are often compared to vessels. We have an outer surface that is both decorative and protective of the contents contained therein. Our interior space travels inward to great depths.
Portraits interest me because they are the lids or the caps on the vessels, enticing us to wonder what is inside. The topography of the face recalls the history and evolution of the life that belongs to it. The smiles that left lines, the worry and anguish that left furrows, the tears that followed the hollows and swells of the cheek. We study the face looking for clues much as a geologist studies the earth looking for clues of what has been and what is to come. Emotion seeps through the eyes like lava looking for openings in the earth’s crust.
Look at my painted landscapes. Rocks defined by colorful strata. Water flowing in S-curves, casting reflections from the influences around it. My pastel and painted figures are defined by colorful strata and gestures flowing in S-curves, reflecting the colors of the influences around them.
The graphite still lifes are smudges of mineral on sheets of plant fiber. No color. Perhaps that’s why it took me a long time to come to them. They are the somber tones of Rembrandt’s landscapes. They are what lies on top of the snow. No visible color, yet somehow it is there. Imaginary worlds, rolling “landscapes”, communities inhabited by inanimate beings with a spirit inside the paper.
So different and so much the same. The potter is the pot...the mineral, the water, the force, and the forced or forcer. The painter is the paint…….the mineral, the water, the force. The observer is the observed (self portraits).
I make things with paint and clay. I have also recently begun making large graphite drawings of still lifes.
Though the three seem very disparate, they all share a common germ. When I look for the common threads that unite them, these are those that are obvious to me.
Whether paint, pastel or glaze, I am attracted to the emotional power of color. In the same way clay can be pushed into form, I tend to push paint in a way that literally defines forms with its physical state as well as the illusion of form that results from perspective and the value (lightness or darkness) of color.
On the potter’s wheel I apply pressure to push the wet clay (a material made from the by- product of volcanoes, ground by wind and water over billions of years into the fine substance peculiar to our planet) into forms that rise up into space, and curve in graceful, balanced, elegant shapes. The upward, outward energy of the piece knows no bounds as it travels toward space. In order to form a vessel, an inner space must be created which travels inward toward deep, emotional places.
My painting involves landscapes, portraits and figures. The landscapes honor the ancient history of the birth and evolution of the earth….a planet made of rock, water and air and formed from forces of fire, water, wind and pressure. People, though each generation seems to think it has just invented life, are descendants of an ancient past. Made of rock, air and water, we are formed from forces of heat (love), fire (hate), pressure (social conformity), water (cleansing and enlightenment) and wind (communication). People are often compared to vessels. We have an outer surface that is both decorative and protective of the contents contained therein. Our interior space travels inward to great depths.
Portraits interest me because they are the lids or the caps on the vessels, enticing us to wonder what is inside. The topography of the face recalls the history and evolution of the life that belongs to it. The smiles that left lines, the worry and anguish that left furrows, the tears that followed the hollows and swells of the cheek. We study the face looking for clues much as a geologist studies the earth looking for clues of what has been and what is to come. Emotion seeps through the eyes like lava looking for openings in the earth’s crust.
Look at my painted landscapes. Rocks defined by colorful strata. Water flowing in S-curves, casting reflections from the influences around it. My pastel and painted figures are defined by colorful strata and gestures flowing in S-curves, reflecting the colors of the influences around them.
The graphite still lifes are smudges of mineral on sheets of plant fiber. No color. Perhaps that’s why it took me a long time to come to them. They are the somber tones of Rembrandt’s landscapes. They are what lies on top of the snow. No visible color, yet somehow it is there. Imaginary worlds, rolling “landscapes”, communities inhabited by inanimate beings with a spirit inside the paper.
So different and so much the same. The potter is the pot...the mineral, the water, the force, and the forced or forcer. The painter is the paint…….the mineral, the water, the force. The observer is the observed (self portraits).