Statement

DRAWINGS

The play of light and Shadow has always fascinated me. I was classically trained to render forms in space, but what actually compelled me was light in space.

As a representational artist, I have explored light as an emotive language that can reveal forms or evaporate them, organize space or deconstruct it, develop moments of clarity as well as ambiguity.

About three years ago, I was in my studio at daybreak. A ray of early morning sunlight was reflecting off a plastic print protector onto my wall. I began to flex and bend the plastic and discovered I could manipulate the reflections on my wall and virtually draw with reflected sunlight. The sunlight reflections I created on my studio wall were ephemeral and fleeting. Thinking of these reflections as a basic vocabulary, I began to imagine and create ink drawings on paper of light in space.

The specific content of my light drawings is deliberately ambiguous, yet the drawings seem to suggest something that might exist in the world. I am intrigued by the idea that these drawings of imagined light appear to hover between representational and nonrepresentational work. I am now creating drawings and prints that explore this duality.

RELIEF PRINTS

Older women in America face enormous challenges, as the wisdom and perspective that age can bring is not valued. Social, political, and personal pressures can often marginalize and isolate older women in a time of increasing sagacity as well as increasing need. How then does a woman in America age with grace?

“What Dreams May Come” is a series of linoleum cuts that are portraits of older women. These portraits suggest the complexity of their internal lives formed by years of experience. The portraits reveal the resilience and beauty of women who have reached a period of balance and wisdom.

The linoleum cut, Alexandra, is a portrait of a young woman in the process of inventing herself and her life. The print is an exploration of light and shadow as an emotive language. The intense light and the deep shadows evaporating into darkness speak to the spirit of a strong and complex young woman.

Linoleum is an extraordinary material. Traditionally it has been used by artists to make bold and graphic statements. But linoleum can whisper. It contains a world of delicate tonalities and complex shadows. Working in linoleum, I embrace the fluid and responsive quality of the material. Honing my own cutting tools from found metal and broken dental picks has allowed me to explore a very personal and delicate mark. In this way I am able to draw with light and shadow into a velvet black to address the complex nature of my subjects.