Professional Fine Arts Portfolio
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a professional artist based in Minnesota, I have spent the last 30 years fully devoted to the arts. I paint with acrylics in combination with other media such as permanent marker, graphite and paper.
My artistic practice involves a spontaneous approach that highlights several themes in an ongoing manner. It is a response to critical far-reaching life experiences. My paintings highlight my role in place and time. Fanciful childhood daydreams, birds, hidden musical themes, parental loss, the divine feminine, illness and recovery, my work is a plethora of reflections. Both lucky breaks and cruel fates.
As a youth art instructor and also as a parent, children’s art was and is a source of inspiration. It has taught me how to work intuitively and also reconnect with my own childhood. I am interested in the unmistakable bond with animals. Children recognize this bond and, are also among the most vulnerable of people. There is a strong commonality between children and animals which makes them compatible in their vulnerability. And so, I include birds in my work. I like to think of them as guardians of trees. They are ever present and dot the landscapes of my paintings, bringing with them a message of empathy and protection.
Much of my recent art takes me back to past memories of dark places and difficult times. The past shapes all of us and effects who we are. I’m not sure that we can completely purge the past but, there can be a kind of reconciliation. I have a unique opportunity as an artist to look at this squarely and directly. It has become a cathartic journey and my aim is to spark an exchange of ideas and perspectives with my viewers.
For more insights, click on the link to my YouTube video below.