THEME

Mineralogy

The study of rocks, gems and other minerals, including their chemical and crystalline structures.

Metallurgy

The study of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys.

Abstraction

To depart from traditional representation of physical objects and create one’s own visual representation of reality.

   

ARTIST STATEMENT

I believe every piece of art we are destined to create already exists. Art is an idea…dormant in the mind of the artist. Something moves the artist to put paint brush to canvas, pen to paper, hand to clay, in a specific way. Sufficiently inspired, the artist becomes the “vehicle” to take the idea, and transform it into art. The last part of this transaction occurs when the art is shared…when others experience the idea…manifested as painting, collage, sculpture.

As early as age ten I had a self-awareness that I was an artist. My mother recognized this and connected me to a great watercolor teacher at the Art Students League in New York City. Despite my age, she treated me like an artist. My portfolio of watercolor paintings helped me gain entrance to Fiorella LaGuardia High School of Music and Art. Through my college years, I was engaged is some form of artistic endeavor, however, at some point, I became totally disinterested and did not pick up a paint brush for 30+ years. There was always a nagging inner voice that kept asking, “why aren’t you painting?” Only recently did I stop ignoring that voice. An instructor at Parson’s School of Design reignited my passion for it, but I was still painting only as a casual hobbyist. Going through the process of entering my first painting in an exhibit (Metallurgy 1 – Copper) convinced me that I should take it seriously. Initially, the theme for my paintings was Metallurgy – the study of metals and their alloys. My creative process began with researching the look and characteristics of a particular metal – in it’s original state, alloyed with other metals, or as it evolves in nature over time. The final representation is as close to what that metal looks like in reality…or using the metal as inspiration. I recently took what I thought was a slight departure from the Metallurgy theme and made a shift to Minerals with a painting called Blue Turquoise. To my surprise, I learned that turquoise contains iron, copper, and aluminum. A higher concentration of copper results in the formation of blue turquoise. When more iron is present, the result is green turquoise. I am still in my “element” after all.