Artist Statement
INSPIRATION
The work is about my visual pathways in the landscape of the Kansas prairies. It reflects the vast spaces, warm colors, waving grasses at the side of the road, and the single structure on the horizon. Sometimes the structure is a barn or grain storage, but usually alone with a tree or two. These structures are often old and weathered giving them a rich patina and a history that becomes part of what I want to convey in my work. I am also fascinated by the objects that people have left behind in some of these locations that have been abandoned by those who lived and died there. How the structures and objects have interacted is a story I find interesting to speculate about.
STYLE
I've been drawing since childhood. When I was in the 6th grade, I drew life size horses galloping across my bedroom walls which no one in my family really appreciated and they didn't last long. My sister now tells me she really liked them (thanks Leah). While in college studying for an Art Education degree I was able to sample many techniques; printmaking, photography, painting, sculpture, fiber arts, and jewelry making. They were all interesting to me and might explain my use of collage to realize my ideas. I use oils, crayons, paper, photographs, prints, and fabric to create the image. My style tends to be abstract representational.
INFLUENCES
I look at art of all kinds, visit museums whenever I can, and read about what, why, and how other artists do what they do. Painters I have studied are van Gogh, Diebenkorn, Hartley, and countless others, including my friend and teacher, Hannah Shook. Other influences are adobe architecture and the Studio Style artwork from the Santa Fe Indian School of the 1930's. Ancient art such as cave art, petroglyphs, and pottery designs all influence how I make art. I'm also facinated by the ceramic horses and camels from the 7th and 8th Century in China. I once saw a room full of them at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and was never the same. One of my biggest influences has been the hundreds of children that have passed through my classroom during my 25 years of teaching. Their honest and direct approach to expressing themselves through their art using paint, clay, and crayons has taught me volumes about artmaking.