Artist Bio
I studied art at Macalester College and Virginia Commonwealth University. My favorite media are mosaic, pastel, and watercolor, alternating among the three.
My mosaics and paintings have been displayed in Minnesota, Ireland, Chicago, and Kansas. In 2011, I was one of fifty mosaic artists selected for the National Mosaic Exhibition on Cape Cod. My most recent solo show, “Water Dance,” was on display at the Great Lakes Aquarium from October 2011-May 2012. A large mosaic, “The Tree of Life,” was installed in Tower Hall at The College of St. Scholastica in 2008.
Several of my paintings have been selected as cover art for volumes of poetry, most recently for The Countries We Live In by David Radavich, forthcoming in fall 2013, and several drawings have appeared in literary magazines.
Artist Statement
Paintings: Living in Duluth, Minnesota, on the shores of that great inland sea, Lake Superior, I have plenty of opportunity to observe the rhythms of water, from tiny ponds to great waterfalls, to the great lake itself. Each one is in continual flux, dancing to its own rhythm. The challenge is to capture that sense of rhythm, that sense of movement, in a static work. These are the detailed (some might say obsessive) pieces in the collection, the most representational.
A different kind of rhythm is created by the seasons, especially the transitional times—late fall, early spring, twilight, dawn—when outlines are blurred, boundaries disappear, great swatches of color startle me with their brilliance.
Mosaic: Working in mosaic creates a different kind of rhythm since colors cannot be blended and outlines are firm. I am fascinated by the way in which bits and pieces, not much to look at in themselves, can come together to create patterns of interest, of beauty, of dissonance; individual elements are transformed through context, new relationships are created, while the gaps—the grout lines—create their own rhythms, underscoring separateness yet holding the whole together. As a metaphor, it works for me: thoughts and experiences, themselves fleeting and small, come together in patterns; lives are broken and reconfigured, perhaps many times; individuals come together in relationships, families, communities; fragmented bits take on meaning and value as part of a larger design. And yet the gaps remain . . .
Cats: Oh yeah, I paint cats, too. I started my Cats of 100 Days blog when I wanted to force myself to draw or paint every day, figuring that if I committed to posting a cat a day for 100 days, I’d get into the habit. I did. I’ve made it for 200+ days and still enjoy my cat time every day.
Blogs
The cats are on www.catsof100days.tumblr.com
I also post some cat pictures on a group blog, www.bowwowsandmeows.tumblr.com
And the non-cat paintings and mosaics are posted with some regularity here:
