I graduated from Parsons School of Design with a degree in illustration. While there I was fortunate to have Maurice Sendak as a teacher and it’s safe to say his class had the greatest lasting impact on me. It was primarily a class on book design and illustration with a lot of philosophizing thrown in. Even if I am not illustrating a story or book I still think most of my work contains a narrative of sorts.
After art school I worked a number of jobs in graphics, design, storyboarding and art direction both in New York and the Bay Area. Most of the work was corporate but I also did a stint as a graphics artist at The Newshour (known as the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour way back when I worked there). This provided good training in succinct visualization but also relied on collaging skills to assemble graphics.
Through the years I have continued to study art and take classes – mostly at the Palo Alto Art Center. Essential to my development was a series of classes taught by Catie O’Leary, a collagist extraordinaire. Her excellent assignments were such fun challenges and helped me refine my personal narrative as an artist.
More recently I have just been doing my own thing. I really enjoy the process of figuring out how I am going to visualize an idea. It is like putting a puzzle together piece by piece. Then the process of working through to completion can be a whole other realm of change and discovery. Sometimes it works out okay.
There are a number of common themes in my work. The natural world contains endless areas of interest. Collections and collecting and walking are also things I like to explore in various ways. I am always hunting and gathering.
The Botanical Lore show in Benicia is the first I have ever submitted works to. I am thrilled that two of my works have been selected for display.