2013 Artist Statement
In my world, the key to happiness is being young. It has been something I have been searching for since I was 13 years old. I even bought a book on happiness. I was never a depressed kid, but to me happiness was a badge on my girl scout uniform. It was something that had to be earned. The only way to do that was to grow up. I still struggle today with being told I am too young to do the things I want to do. Yet somewhere in the midst of all this “growing up too fast” business, I have realized the secret to the thing I have longed for most. All I have to do is be young.
My mixed media paintings are a way for me to time travel. As I work and as I look at my completed works, I am reminded of the times when I could run, laugh, and play outside without getting strange looks. I have just completed a series of paintings entitled, “Naked in the Rain” that show children dancing in the rain with no inhibitions. Using that series as inspiration, I have moved on to my current series of paintings I call “Trees of Joviation”. In this series, the children play around large trees bursting with leaves and life. My work is all about creating energy and movement. I accomplish this through the use of various mediums including: cut holes with flickering lights, paper cutouts, jaggy twigs, and gestural mark making.
I would consider my work closely related to the Neo-Expressionism style. My mark making is very similar to that of German artist Georg Baselitz and the early work of New York artist, Julian Schnabel. Much of my inspiration also comes from children’s book author and illustrator, Eric Carle. I gather images of children at play, cut them out of colored or painted paper, and draw roughly on top of them with bright colors. In doing this, I become part of the painting. My active energy is transferred into my work and enlivens my viewers to feel as if they want to be a part of the scenes in my paintings. After all, who doesn’t want to always feel young?