Artist statement

Much of my work comes through integration of the unexpected. I return to earlier memories, a time when the external world was filled with unknowns, full of possibility for the imagination. This kind of experience is often lost in the transition to adulthood when exploration shifts to self-examination. Each of my paintings is a different intersection of the present colliding with the past, becoming a representation of place merged with subjective reflection.

In small egg tempera landscapes, I revisit the ambiguous territory where Self and environment blur, opening up multiple interpretations. Using photographs as an aid to memory, I set out to describe long forgotten moments of my childhood and early adulthood. My working style, which is extremely process-oriented, is a continual search for a way to represent the phenomenological experience, taking advantage of the characteristic of my chosen medium to continually reveal.

Thin and highly translucent, egg tempera reveals all movements of the brush and therefore all decisions. In the early stages of a piece, treading in the murky layers of abstraction, I look for clues of what to distill into figuration. With every layer that is added, two to three layers get wiped away leaving a residue that is a reverberation of time, the history of the painting’s own making. Small details that may at first be obscured are revealed to those who wish to find them. Figures become so merged with their surroundings that at times they are almost camouflaged. The depth of layers in a finished piece is testament to the lengthy pursuit of trying to capture a fleeting memory. I am always surprised by the outcome.

Resumé

Exhibitions:
2006
The Outside In, (solo show), Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005
Mystic Truths, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL
NADA Art Fair, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Miami, Florida
VOLTA 01, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Gallery 2, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Abstraction, Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL
2002
Artemisia Mentorship Show, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001
Jane Doe, Walleye Gallery, Chicago, IL
Buzz, The Lab, Chicago, IL
2000
Wall/Weave, GBU Gallery, Chicago, IL
Group Show, Lula Café, Chicago, IL
1999
Elemental, GBU Gallery, Chicago, IL
Awards:
2005
MFA Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2003
Talent Tuition Waiver, University of IL, Chicago
2002
Artemisia Mentorship Program, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 - 2000
Named to the Dean’s List of the College of the Architecture and the Arts
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
1994
Jeanette Browning Memorial Award, Peoria, IL
Congressional Art Award
Education:
2003 - 2005
MFA Painting, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
1997 - 2000
BFA University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
1996
The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL