Self-Description
Painting to me is much like fishing; more often than not, I am poking my brush and my hand around on the canvas until something bites, and an image begins to appear. There is very little forethought to the production, as my work is not developed sketch to finish. After multiple sessions of applying, stripping, sanding, and re-applying layers of collage, the worn edges left behind inform the imagery that comprises the subject matter. For instance, a subtle tear from a postcard edge is reminiscent of a polar bear claw, thus, a claw is painted. I basically let the piece tell me what it wants to become and take it from there, which helps to make the work both organic in generation and unique in finished image. The work maintains its ethereal yet two-dimensional tension through a gestural paint application opposed by hard line use.


I have a tendency to sift in and out of styles - it is apparent that I like to tell stories with the work, but I am drawn to abstract imagery when I begin to feel that my literal work is somewhat forced. I feel as if Im manipulating the viewer to read the piece the way I want them to see it, as opposed to letting them interpret the work on their own. The liberty of the abstract is that it is a testament to my composition skills, rather than my drafting skills, and I relish it because it poses a completely different set of challenges. I am often told that even when the subject or genre is vastly different from one piece to the next, viewers can always tell when a piece is mine. That, to me, is the power of medium. In my case, the medium of heavily textured collage coupled with curious titles.


Titles have always been of great importance to me, as I spent much of my time at RISD writing poetry. When I produce abstract work, the titles take on even more significance. They are the one formal fact the viewer can cling to concerning the painting's intended meaning. Titles are my acknowledgement that visual and literary art are co-dependent. Titles are drawn from sound bites heard on the radio, late night conversations with strangers and friends, books on gardening, documentaries about Antarctica, horoscopes, lyrics from songs, and things I dream up while running. It is amazing what a little oxygen can do.

Bio
I am an abstract painter and collage artist, currently living and working in Washington, DC. Collage has been my primary medium since I graduated from college, as it feeds my curious nature. I believe my diversity of professions has fed my ability to produce art: I have been an arts educator, a gallery docent, a copy-editor, and an office administrator. Through every professional position I have held, I have gleaned insight into how better run my own business. In this current economic climate, it helps to be both flexible and adaptable; traits I have adopted through valuable professional experience.


I was born and raised in the Pioneer valley of Western Massachusetts. I studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), graduating with a BFA in Illustration in 1999. While at RISD, I combined traditional Illustrative elements with my desire to work on a large scale (3 x 5 and up). Post-graduation, I moved to San Francisco where my style was more fully realized through the addition of urban textures - bus passes, credit card slips, & postcards, which created the collage technique that now defines my largest and smallest work. In 2002, I returned to the Northampton area, where I was born in 1976. I focused my arts energy on restaurants and small galleries.


In June, 2008, I moved to Washington DC in search of both a new venue for the work, and to expand my skills in the area of arts education and office administration.


I admire Paul Klee, Yoshitomo Nara, Joan Miro, Chinatsu Ban, Jasper Johns, Milton Avery, Jordan Isip, the Russian Post-Modernists, Kara Walker, David Choong Lee, and those amazing un-sung eccentrics who imbue all our concrete walls with luscious graffiti; the true 'urban' artists.