Professional Biography

The search for form and how to make that form is at the very base of my study of painting. My work engages in a route of questioning about the nature of things, beings, activities and the medium itself. The paintings are formally rigorous-- worked and reworked in order to find a dynamic place of compositional balance. In a painting, much of the decisions of the work get buried under consequent layers of paint. Yet each painting represents a history of choices, rules and assumptions. The painter invents the rules of the game. The pleasure of painting comes from following this game through, seeing (literally) where it will lead. Seeing itself is a history built up of choices and environment. Painting is one way to reveal and make conscious our process of seeing. The work that results is a history of these momentary systems of decipherment.

Teaching Philosophy

My goal in teaching any art course, is to establish a working conversation that enables students to use a visual vocabulary and think for themselves. I am vigilant, actively listening and verbalizing to recognize each student’s unique aptitude and desire for their work. I believe my role as a teacher is to help guide and refine the student’s vision as well as to teach method and craft and the recognition of quality and history of this craft.

I believe that working from life is an important part of training to be a visual artist. The generousness of visual life feeds and enhances an interior logic of form--whether this form becomes abstract, minimal, conceptual or other. Observing closely and with great attention is requisite to any artist. In beginning classes I specifically focus on strengthening observation, materials handling, and media familiarity. As the students progress, I focus on establishing craft and standard for that craft. I encourage students to inform their work by constructing a personal canon of artists and identifying an individual subject. In all classes I demand a high level of personal achievement from the student. I structure my courses to create a supportive and collaborative community that will enhance each student’s learning. It is my experience that students learn with more desire and passion when they feel part of a supportive group of peers.

Making Oil Paint, 2007