The paintings I create dislocate, mutate, splice, and recombine images from the natural world to form entirely new environments that exist beyond the boundaries of nature. Source material is transformed from its original state through several different processes and may no longer resemble specific imagery from the natural world. I use a mixed media process which involves silk-screening, traced monotype, painting, drawing, and collage. Each technique allows me to record and describe my interpretations of nature in a non-representational way. I abstract and often simplify forms in an attempt to depict their most basic structures or essence. My paintings also depict transformation by using space and forms on the picture plane in such a way that the viewer can perceive multiple environments within a piece, and from several vantage points, such as frontal, aerial, microscopic, and macroscopic.
Forms, transformations, and environments within my work result from planned ideas and intuition as the piece is created. This flexibility within a framework allows for transformation to take place as the piece is being made and for multiple interpretations of the completed work. The forms within these environments achieve numerous identities through abstraction and create an environment that changes our perception about the depth of interactions that may occur. My ultimate goal is to challenge the viewer to question the different roles the forms play in each piece and how mutability and shifting perceptions allow these environments to transform and exist on multiple levels.
Education:
MFA Illinois State University, 2008. Painting.
BFA Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2001. Fine Arts.
Selected Teaching Experience:
Adjunct Instructor, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL, 2009-2010
Teach Art Appreciation and Drawing I to undergraduate art and non-art majors
Assistant Instructional Professor, Illinois State University, Normal, 2008
Taught Drawing Fundamentals to undergraduate non-art majors
Graduate Assistant, Illinois State University, Normal, 2005-2008
Assisted in teaching Painting I and II, Life Drawing I, and Drawing Fundamentals to undergraduate art majors. I also recruited and coordinated models (undergraduate students) for Life Drawing I and II.
Art Instructor and Studio Assistant, Creation Art Studios, Urbana, IL, 2003-2005
Taught art of all media to people aged 5-80, helped curate gallery shows, and was involved in community art events.
Juried Exhibitions:
Art Association of Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA, Dec 4, 2009 – Jan 7, 2010
Three-Person Invitational Exhibition
Union Street Gallery, Chicago Heights, IL, March 13 – April 10, 2009
National Juried Exhibition, "Multiplicity"
Union Street Gallery, Chicago Heights, IL, Sept 12 – Oct 10, 2008
National Juried Exhibition, "Destruct/Construct"
Springer Cultural Center, Champaign, IL, May 7 – June 1, 2008
Three-Person Show
Illinois State University, Normal, IL, April 15 – May 9, 2008
Student Annual
Quincy Art Center, Quincy, IL, July 20 – Aug 17, 2007
57th Annual Quad-State Juried Exhibition
Illinois State University, Normal, IL, March 27 – April 30, 2007
Student Annual
Entomological Society of America – North Central Branch, Winnipeg, Canada, March 25 – 28, 2007
Insect Digital Image Salon
Parkland College, Champaign, IL, Jan 10 – Feb 11, 2005
National Juried Exhibition, “Inside the Box: A Shoebox Show”
Period Gallery, Lincoln, NE, Aug 1 – 31, 2004
2nd Annual Juried Color International Exhibition
Parklane Gallery, Clinton, WA, May 3 – June 6, 2004
12th Annual Juried International Miniature Show
Laredo Center for the Arts, Laredo, TX, Dec 5 – 29, 2002
10th Annual International Juried Exhibition
Period Gallery, Lincoln, NE, Jan 3 – 24, 2002
2nd Annual, “Painting 2002” International Juried Exhibition
Berks Art Alliance, Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA, July 1 – Aug 28, 2000
24th Annual Juried Art Exhibition
Gallery 20, Wyomissing, PA, Feb 1 – March 30, 2000
Juried Show, “For the Love of Art”
Non-Juried Exhibitions:
Illinois State University, Normal, IL, April 15 – 20, 2008
MFA exhibition
McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL, Oct 26 – Dec 22, 2007
“…and I am blue…” Artist Invitational
Illinois State University, Normal, IL, Nov 14 – Dec 15, 2006
2006 MFA Biennial
33 Collective Gallery, Chicago, IL, April 21 – May 5, 2006
Group Exhibition, “Representation and Being”
Creation Art Studio, Urbana, IL, May 2 – 29, 2005
Spring 2005 Art Exhibition
Creation Art Studio, Urbana, IL, Dec 2004
“Art Who-Ha”
Boneyard Arts Festival, Champaign-Urbana, IL, April 2004
Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA, June 14 – Aug 3, 2003
Lancaster Summer Arts Festival’s 41st Annual Open Art Award Exhibit
Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA, Dec 1 – 13, 2001
Senior Art Exhibition
Publications:
New American Paintings Special 15th Anniversary Edition, 2010, p. 190
Studio Visit, 2009, Volume 8:150
New American Paintings Midwest Edition, 2008, Volume 77:128-131
Studio Visit, 2008, Volume 2:165