Profile
I have lived and worked on the West Coast for the past 40 years. Raised near New York City, at 15, I visited an art history class at Columbia University. I was enthralled by the color vibrations of the Post-Impressionist slide show. At 17, I begged my father to let me study art in Spain, and in the summer of 1969 I began my journey into the world of art.
I enrolled in the Sculpture program at the University of Valencia Art School with one of the best sculptors in Spain. I will never forget my teacher repeating these words while chopping and cutting with his hand motions, " geometría, geometría, siempre geometría." This was my first introduction to the importance of geometry and the underlying structure of art. Later, while falling in love with Cezanne's paintings, I saw just how important geometrical scaffolding is.
When I was at Columbia University as a graduate student in New York City, I took classes at the Arts Students League and bathed in the art of the greatest museums in the world. It was then I decided to become a painter.
I like the world more when I paint. Energy becomes visible. I see vibrations, variety and contrasts in the tangle of vines meeting the quiet sky, the pink petals against a gray green branch, and the light over the hill. Line, color, shape spark a world of opposites in fine relationship.
Every painting is a journey into the unknown. Whether painting with watercolor, acrylics or oils on paper or canvas, I begin with drawing in charcoal or paint, setting up a structure intuitively. Then little by little I add or subtract paint, stepping back and forth to see the new relationships of balance, rhythm and movement. I proceed quickly at first and then slower later on. After a while, as the work becomes more difficult, I continue the effort of getting out of the way, hearing what the painting needs, and trusting the process. I listen to music when I paint. I care about rhythm and touch. I want the viewer to feel wildness and order simultaneously.
No matter how gestural or energetic the surface, there is an underlying structure in all things. I am always paying attention to "geometría," even when I am wild and vigorous with my brush strokes. For me, abstract painting offers the greatest opportunity to let go of my ego and pour my larger self into my work. Painting abstractly frees my imagination, and I am then able to widen perception, deepen feeling, and think more clearly.
Painting is my journey into source. Art is the frontier where my inner presence and the outer world meet. The more aware, honest and present I am, the more that presence will live in my paintings. It is my greatest goal to be direct and transparent.
I want to create poems of color, light and abundant energy.
EDUCATION
Columbia University, New York, NY - Master of Arts
Pacific Oaks College, Pasadena, CA - Post Graduate Studies
University of Washington, Seattle, WA - Bachelor of Science, Geology
Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, WA
The Grand Chaumiëre, Paris, France
Art Students League, New York, NY
University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
AWARDS
Fulbright Scholarship: 1984
PUBLICATIONS
Why I Paint by Liz Davidson and James Lourie (words only)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2012 The Amadeus Project, Bellingham, WA
2011 Whatcom Museum, "Fate of the Forest", Bellingham, WA
2010 Works on Canvas Gallery, "Landed", Bellingham, WA
2010 Whatcom Museum, “Art and All that Jazz”, Bellingham, WA
2010 Museum of Northwest Art, Group Show, LaConner, WA
2008 Whatcom Museum, "Art and All that Jazz", Bellingham, WA
2008 Woodstock Farm Art Show, Bellingham, WA
2008 Museum of Northwest Art, LaConner, WA
2008 Poncho Invitational Live Auction, Seattle, WA
2007 Poncho Invitational Live Auction, Seattle, WA
2006 Whatcom Museum, "Art and All that Jazz", Bellingham, WA
2006 Poncho Invitational, "Horse of a Different Color", Seattle, WA
2006 Art in Embassies Program, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2005 Museum of Northwest Art, Group Show, LaConner, WA
2004 Blue Horse Gallery,"In the Heart of the Land", Group Show, Bellingham, WA
2004 Museum of Northwest Art, Group Show, LaConner, WA
2004 Whatcom Museum, "Gem of an Evening", Bellingham, WA
2003 Mindport Gallery, "True North", Bellingham, WA
2003 Whatcom Museum, "Art and All that Jazz", Bellingham, WA
2003 Edison Eye Gallery, Group Show, Edison, WA
2003 Museum of Northwest Art, Group Show, LaConner, WA
2002 Lucia Douglass Gallery, "Small Works Invitational Show", Bellingham, WA
2002 Whatcom Artists Studio Tour, Whatcom County, WA
2002 Gallery at the Depot, "Small Works Show", Anacortes, WA
2002 Blue Horse Gallery, "9/11 Show", Bellingham, WA
2002 Stillwater Gallery, "Puget Sound Country Art", Seattle, WA
2002 Edison Eye Gallery, "Shadows and Reflections", Edison, WA
2002 Anacortes Arts Festival, "Art at the Port", Anacortes, WA
2002 Edmonds Arts Festival, Group Show, Edmonds, WA
2002 Whatcom Children's Museum, "Gem of an Evening", Bellingham WA.
2001 Allied Arts of Whatcom County, "Two Landscape Artists", Bellingham WA.
2000 Anacortes Arts Festival, "Art at the Port Exhibition", Anacortes WA.
2000 Whatcom Museum, "Art and All That Jazz Show", Bellingham WA.
2000 Allied Arts of Whatcom County, Group Show, Bellingham WA.
1994 Seattle Central Community College Art Gallery, Faculty Art Show, Seattle WA.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Rod and Mari Juntunen, Mt. Vernon, WA
Tom Bernard, Seattle, WA
Bonnie and John Midby, Seattle, WA
Ted Tuttle, Seattle, WA
Tina and Bob Alexander, Seattle, WA
Douglas Landsem, Bellingham, WA
Merrily Curtis, Bellingham, WA
Carol and Mikey Ghio, Bellingham, WA
Maya and Mike Allsop, Bellingham, WA
Lori Erickson, Bellingham, WA
Jan and George Bowen, Custer, WA
Samantha and Matt Fremont-Smith, New York, NY
Elizabeth and Craig McGuire, Redmond, WA
Julia Clifford, Bellingham, WA
Elena Shifflette, New York, NY
Selma Rayfiel, High Falls, NY
Terry Hinz, Bellingham, WA
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Washington State
An Eye for Art: Visual Literacy Workshops
Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
Art Seminars: 20th Century Art and Critique Classes
Whatcom County Schools, Bellingham, WA
Art In Schools - Elements and Principles of Art for the Allied Arts Education Project
Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, WA
Art Education - Elements of Design for 4th grade classes in the Bellingham Schools
