Artist:Artist:
Early characteristics that stayed with me throughout my years
and have made me the artist and person that I am today.
Vivid Imagination
Determination
Willing to stand firm against all odds.
Self Confidence.
Believied I could do anything.
Didn't let others mess with what I believed to be true.
Always seached for what was real and true.
A deep caring.
A belief that I could make a difference.
Within the 30 years of training and working as a professional painter and sculptor, there has been an on-going passion for building and a belief that our surroundings influence our mental, physical, spiritual and social well-being.
This passion started as a child. I created spaces just for myself. A place where I could just be... away from sister, parents, television noise...
The inside of my closet became one of my first habitats. A quiet place where, with the aid of a flashlight, I could read.
I grew up in a rural setting and the out-of-doors was my second home. There, I found a multitude of materials from which to construct with. Tall, sturdy, dried, Black eyed-Susan stems were woven into a grass hut.
An unused septic tank made for a great round house. Once inside, the concept of a "skylight" was discovered:
As my physical strength grew and the discovery of hand tools, I found that saplings could be fashioned into a "log" cabin. By now, others showed interest in my buildings and I realized the potential that spaces could have in terms of places for friends to gather.
Time passed...high school, college, then out into the bigger world. It was only natural that I would buy a piece of land, design and build my own home. There were technical aspects I needed to learn to build a real structure. I hired and worked side-by-side with a young man, who was just starting his own construction business, and his grandfather, who had been building for years. In this fashion, I learned the basics of construction.
What I learned as well, was the "significance or spirit of place". That how I shaped the environment, also shaped me.
The "cabin", located on 5
acres of land, surrounded
by woodlands, hills, stream,
became a home in which I
could live simply. This gave
me time to practice my art,
live and learn directly
from nature.
The experiences of this time period of eight years continues to inform my art work and values.
A brief mention here, that during these "back to nature" years, I also began a 16 year exploration of New York City. Living months at a time in the city, allowed me to study at the Art Students League, learn the gallery world, accumulate 110 hours of drawing from works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and to create a body of paintings entitled, "The Humanity Series" (visit: "The Humanity Series")
As my life took on the changes of time, I left my upstate New York cabin in the woods, moved to Albany,NY, to gather more experience about being in the art world, which then led me to Arizona, where I would spend the next 15 years.
Desires for creating another home developed. Knowing that I needed to learn additional construction techniques for the hot, dry environment, I did a six month apprenticeship with a construction journeyman. Soon after, I purchased land and began a ten year journey of building a hand-made desert home.
Each step of this building process continued to affirm to me that what we create, affects the environment, ourselves, and all who come in contact with the creation.
There is a very sculptural element to the techniques and
design of this home.
Approaching the front gate
Detail of gate with courtyard beyond.
Stone walkway
Inside front courtyard.
View of courtyard and garden walls.
Spiral stone design of entry hall.
A moment of realization came to me near the end of the building process. I had been raised and trained as a painter. But after fully feeling the pleasure of shaping walls, floors, archways, and other curved surfaces with cement, stone and wood, I recognized that basically all of my building projects was about creating sculpture. Another apprenticeship soon followed, studying for a year-and-a-half, with the stone sculptor, Daniel Newman.
The stone studio. A separate structure
on the land used for the sculpting stone.
In 2001, my partner and I, missing the ever-changing climate and the green of New England, moved to Maine. Instead of building from the ground up and filling the landscape with yet another house, we bought a 1910 Cape to renovate.
This brings me to the present day. It is with great pleasure that I work with the students of Cape Elizabeth on the Courtyard Project. Learning about, planning and creating a space for both self and others is a most fulfilling experience.