Artist's Statement

The first great blessing of my life was to be raised by parents who shared a deep reverence for the natural world. The second was to spend the years of my childhood in the idyllically beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, a land of sheltering blue mountains, tangled woods, and wandering rivers. Wherever I go, I am always drawn to landscapes that remind me of that place: intimate spaces whose intricate complexity seems to me a perfect metaphor for the unknowable mysteries of life.

Many of my paintings feature water. As a subject for painting as much as a subject for meditation, water is endlessly fascinating: it is transparent, opaque, reflective, moving, still. It is both two- and three-dimensional, and sometimes it is nearly impossible to distinguish these attributes. My paintings are a way of trying to see and understand these seeming contradictions.

I received my bachelor of arts degree in anthropology from Duke University and both bachelor and master of fine arts degrees from Eastern Michigan University. From 1988 to 1995 my woodcuts, serigraphs, etchings, and mixed media paintings were included in more than 30 regional and national shows. Since moving to the Albuquerque area in 1998, I have worked primarily in pastels. My paintings have been exhibited in a number of national shows and have received several awards, including first place in the Pastel Society of New Mexico’s 2005 national exhibition.