Summer Feature Exhibit: Celebrating the Creative Journey
Artist’s Statement
I remember as a child looking at the thin paper edge of the page of my copy of Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I was mesmerized by how much illusion and meaning was squeezed onto that thin sheet of paper. For me, this was a magic trick that I wanted to learn how to do!
I was not aware of any distinction between art on the wall or art in a children’s book. It all fed my imagination and inspired me to want to explore drawing and painting in my own way. I was fortunate to have parents and grandparents who nurtured my artistic interests by always providing art supplies for Christmas, and birthdays. I learned to paint with oils in junior high school by doing paint-by-numbers of landscapes, wildlife, and airplanes.
I went to college at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. These formative years of artistic exploration were spent living inside of what looked like an Andrew Wyeth painting; rural and pastoral scenes occasionally interrupted by reminders of civilization; water and radio towers, distant lights glowing off in the distance; all through the haze of memory and humidity. My art was influenced by this kind of landscape. But it was also influenced by my interest in looking at art by some of my other favorite painters, the Pre-Raphaelites, who painted very detailed, colorful, symbolic, narrative paintings of figures in the English countryside during the 19th century.
After graduating from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1993 with my MFA in painting and drawing, I worked for three years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in both the security and Art Conservation departments. I considered my time there both an employment and educational opportunity because of the access I had to so much great art and so many interesting professionals in the field. During this time, I was also doing my own art, and applying for teaching positions at many colleges and universities around the country. I knew that I wanted to do what my college art professors did; share what I love with others and continue with what I love; painting and drawing. I was offered the teaching position at SUNY Buffalo State in 1997 which is where I have been enjoying creating and sharing through teaching ever since.