Introduction

About This Blog

 

"So, what are you going to do with an art degree?"

"Hell if I know!  I guess, I'll just paint."

Seriously folks, no one teaches you how to BE an artist let alone how to live as one.  I started out in mechanical drafting, moved towards a math teaching degree, got redirected into teaching art and finally ended up with a fine art degree.  Not a day goes by that I don't find myself shaking my head and asking "How the hell did THAT happen?"

The truth is, although I fought it all my life, I just EMERGED as an artist.  I have always loved drawing and writing.  I just never had enough respect for it to pursue it.   In high school art was for the "stoners."  I was better than that.  I had a brain.  I could grasp math.  Mechanical drafting was an obvious avenue and it was readily available to me.  So there I went.  There's a long arduous journey between the "there" and "here", not to mention, a tedious story.  We'll leave that for another day.  "Here" is where I am today.  Today, I cannot tell you how to market your art, how to make money at it, how to "justify" all that time, money and effort into what you/we do.  I can only tell you that I am an artist, and I am compelled to create.  More importantly, as I have embraced this , I have come to understand just how important it is to humanity to have "art".   I must tell you that some of the most "brilliant" people I know are artists!  Somehow, I must make you know what art means, not only to me, but to all of us.  There lies the point and goal of my blog!  So tune in.  Meanwhile here is a little more about me:

About My Own Work

There are several ideas and inspirations that coagulate in my work.     For the most part, I would say that I am most interested in the human experience.  Naturally, I find myself interested in expressionism.  But my interest is not limited to expressionism.  I am intrigued by a number of works I had seen at the Guggenheim museum of Modern Art in NYC a few years ago.   One such example, "The Soft Wall" by Robert Irwin is among one of my favorite experiences.  I was absolutely fascinated by the artist's power of manipulation to have held me captivated by an empty room.  It was as if he understood the nature of my intense curiosity.  He somehow understood me and gave me the delightful human experience of discovery.  When the artist and his audience see eye to eye, when one understands the other, in that moment, some kind of communion happens in the soul.  That is the moment I strive for as an artist.

Artist Bio

Group Exhibitions

            Feb 6 – March 10, 2006 Great Lakes Drawing Biennial Eastern Michigan’s University’s Ford Gallery

            2005-2006 Eastern Michigan University Honors Exhibit (for Art Scholarship recipients)

Grants, Scholarships and Awards

            2004-2005 Eastern Michigan University’s Recognition of Excellence Scholarship 

            2005-2006 Eastern Michigan University’s Regents Scholarship

            2005-2006 Eastern Michigan University, Art Department’s Juanita Weddige Scholarship

                      

Education

          2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts from Eastern Michigan University - Magna Cum Laude

2003 Associate of Science from Henry Ford Community College - Magna Cum Laude

Member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society  2006