Artist Statement:
The stories and motivations that fuel my paintings come from my life experiences and adhere to narrative pictures filled with symbols found in isolated rural landscapes. I strive to convey the duality of beauty and tragedy found in a life of seclusion.
As a teenager, I spent several summers visiting my sister’s family in a small rural community in north Georgia and roamed alone over her neighbors large fields. I trespassed over fences; continuously free, never approached while observing many of these lonely homesteads. I learned that isolation can be either beautiful or tragic, depending on how each soul attempts to manage their life and their relationship with the world.
In my rural landscape paintings I attempt represent the paradox between a life of solitude or engagement. While solitude can protect the inhabitant from the outside world, engaging with others offers a wider experience. In this series, you can see the darker side of isolation symbolized with shadowed doorways, storm clouds or overly bold fences that interrupt the viewers gaze or dominate the landscape. I also show the warmer attributes with open doorways and fences, blue skies and animals.
The scenarios that I portray are emblems of human psychological dramas, painted with the intent of allowing the viewer to decipher each painting in their own allegorical light. I believe in the power of the mind, and one’s own ability to create his own hell or haven in this world. With acrylic paint and canvas, I want to challenge my viewer to think differently about the boundaries that we build around ourselves, to peek over or tear down some of those barriers so that you might feel more, see more and become more compassionate in your everyday existence.
Education:
MFA in Fine Art Painting
Awards & Distinctions:
2019 Promotional Postcard for Centennial Center Gallery Exhibit, Kent, Washington
2018 Traffic Box Wrap Project Winner, Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation, Olympia, Washington
Exhibitions:
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Thurston County Juvenile Court Gallery, Olympia, Washington
2016 Drift Wellness Studio, Athens, Georgia
2015 The Hive, Augusta, Georgia
2015 Jittery Joes, Athens, Georgia
2011 The Bees Knees, Augusta, Georgia
Group Exhibitions
2021 Centennial Center Gallery (dual artist exhibit), Kent, Washington
2019 Centennial Center Gallery, Kent, Washington
State of the Arts Gallery, Olympia, Washington
2017 Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, Georgia
2011 Arts Festival, Ketchikan, Alaska 2010
2010 The Canary Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Artistic Influences:
Influences include Alice Neel, Peter Doig and Frida Kahlo
Artist Tags:
art, artist, painting, acrylic, landscape, rural
