Artist's Statement

Student Work

Class Schedule

Past Events

Document Archives

I am now in a place in my life where I am looking both backwards and forwards, analyzing my life - looking at decisions that I have made over the past 36 years as a professional artist – looking at the consequences of my decisions, seeing what proved to be beneficial, and what created problems.

When I came to Venice, I made a few promises to myself – the first being that I wanted to do my best to stay healthy as I aged, which was one of the main reasons I moved down to the ocean and the second was to become a reliable, working artist – one who maintained my life painting – painting anything, from walls and woodwork, to furniture, to watercolors, to gigantic oils, - anything with paint. When I was at Otis, one of my teachers – Sam Clayberger, once showed me a list of jobs he had done in the arts – about 35 different jobs, and he told me that if he could do it, so could I. And I did.

I have reached a point in my life where I am perfectly content – I have accomplished much of what I set out to do . I never thought that I would live past 50 years old for some reason. So I was very daring in between the ages of 40 and 50. Then after that, I settled down for the long haul. That meant, by being open to new ideas, taking care of myself, not fooling myself but looking at the truth squarely, and dealing with it.

The first thing I had to do when I moved into my studio, was to clear myself out of old ideas and old patterns of living. I was now in a position to create my life the way I wanted it – there were no excuses. I had the education, the talent and the drive I needed to accomplish anything I wanted to do. It was important to me to keep my health, because, in my mind, everything hinged upon being able to do what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it.

I have had many mentors along the way – individual people who taught me much, from their point of view. I have incorporated a lot of this in myself, along with reading and research about various ideas, ways of living and believing, ways of behavior – what works, and what doesn’t.

My career has been fabulous – more than I ever hoped for or expected. And it is not over yet. As I see it, it is possible to still have another 20 or 30 years to go – what will happen in these years?

I loved the period of my life when I was so involved in recording the history of Venice and Santa Monica each scene – I still am doing pieces which relate to that series.

And the hand-painted fabric was a dream come true – it allowed me to paint in a very physical way, that is – moving like a dancer – and create art which was totally unique. Nobody ever painted fabric the way I paint it – I did it as a work of art, not a design. What is the difference? I don’t know that I can say much, except that , the way I look at it, my art comes from a passion for what I am doing, and my goal is to make my whole life a work of art – from the simplest movement (like washing the floor) to painting a beautiful painting. It is all art to me – I love what I do, and love doing it – and love the results. An artist creates beauty out of next to nothing, and my goal always is to create something totally new, that I have never seen, and no one else has ever seen. That would negate Aristotle’s idea that art is something 3 times removed from reality. (There is the idea of something, then there is the thing, then there is the representation of the thing, according to Aristotle). I do not want to represent another’s reality, but create a reality that the viewer can step into and make his/her own reality.

At this point in my career I am concentrating on producing pieces which incorporate many of the diverse processes which I have created and used in the past 35 years. My Master’s thesis was sculptural painting, and then my business used many of these concepts in the creation of the hand painted fabric line.

In designing for the showrooms, much of the fabric was used hanging from the ceiling, and sculptured on the wall.

My new work is similar, and now contains paintings as well as other objects and the hand painted fabric. The fabric can be used to create soft walls which viewers can walk through , into and out of, and touch. The fabrics are silk, and so are sensuous to the touch. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the soft silks and the textured canvases.

Brand Library is looking for artists who wish to use the air space, and the center of the room, and that is exactly what I would like to do. The paintings will also stand on their own.

[ Home ] [ Artwork Gallery ] [ Original WaterColors ] [ Hand Painted Fabrics ] [ Original Paintings ] [ Walk Thru Venice ] [ Walk Thru Santa Monica ] [ Infinity Studio News ] [ Student Services ] [ Proposed Work ]