ARTISTS STATEMENT
I was born into a family of artists in Woodstock, NY and grew up surrounded by creative people. Being exposed to the work and conversation of my parents’ peers from an early age profoundly influenced my young mind. Painters, sculptors, playwrights, novelists, musicians and actors were a part of my everyday world.
Leaving home after high school and moving to Manhattan, I was introduced to a wonderfully diverse group of young artists when I enrolled in the Art Students League on 57th St. Exchanging ideas and perspectives with students from around the world sparked my passion for international travel and marked the beginning of my professional life as an artist. By the time I was 18, I had begun exhibiting my paintings around the Northeast. I worked as a professional artist in NYC for 35 years, exhibiting my work extensively and occasionally teaching art in the NYC public schools and offering workshops at the Art Students League. In 2011 I returned to my roots in Woodstock NY and began teaching at the Woodstock School of Art.
I have always found it stimulating to alternate between painting, welded steel sculpture, wooden wall constructions, mixed media and collage as I find that switching up my medium helps to keep fresh ideas flowing.
My creative influences run the gamut: Archaic Greek sculpture, Byzantine mosaics, the 20th Century Spanish sculptor Julio Gonzalez, the wood carvings of Senegal and Burkina Faso in West Africa, 16th century master, Titian and those Europeans who followed in his footsteps, Juan Gris, Cezanne and Matisse.
My many years of teaching art to young people and to adults has helped me to better understand the healing nature of art. My world travels have encouraged me to love humanity in all its myriad and messy manifestations.