[artist's statement]
I have been making art and collaborating with other creative makers for over 25 years. For me, my work is as much about the act of painting itself as it is about the objects I embrace. While my technique has become more refined over the years, my approach has always been the same. I look for what is special in everyday objects, people, animals, etc., and build on that, exaggerating and accentuating features that appeal to me, with an almost baroque sensibility, to create truly stunning pieces that have integrity and that my clients enjoy living with every day.
As a kid, I would draw canyon wars, create armies of stick figures, and obsessively doodle on the back of restaurant placemats. I would often sequester myself in a room and draw for hours, filling entire waste baskets with the drawings I didn't feel made the cut, but saving those that did as examples of the endless possibilities that my creativity could afford me. To this day, I feel a special sense of purpose when I'm working and I strongly believe that art is most successful when we tap into the more spontaneous, adventurous, less inhibited, nature of our youthful beginnings.
Over the years, my work has been profoundly shaped and defined by a broad range of inspirations. Having grown up in a small town on the South Shore of Boston, and having lived in several major coastal cities, the ocean and nautical life have been profound influences on my work. In fact, many of my subjects, from vintage nautical maps, that evoke a sense of nostalgia and fun with their mesmerizing detail; to seemingly never ending schools of swirling sardines; to multi layered abstract objects that play with the concept of “what,” are either a direct or derivative translation of objects and themes that were borne from these experiences.
I’ve also been fortunate to have had the opportunity to create many commissioned works over the course of my career. Many of my clients are brilliant, accomplished people who have a high degree of creative vision themselves and are eager to be a part of the process to create very specific works of art for their own enjoyment. As a result of many such collaborations, I’ve been able to refine my process and build my endurance as an artist while thinking even bigger and venturing down paths I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to discover. This, in turn has helped to define my point of view as an artist and to expand my repertoire while remaining true to my goal of making pieces that people simply love and that they enjoy being around.
I continue to be inspired by the process of creating art and actively refining my process to expand my range of techniques and effects. Creating paintings is my true passion and what I’ve always been inspired to do; I was born an artist and making pieces that inspire others to celebrate the beauty in everyday life is what drives me and what I will continue to do for the rest of my life.
[education]
BS Art; Skidmore College, 1993
MFA; Tufts University, 1996
[studio]
840 Summer Street
Boston, MA 02127