Artist Statement:

 

I paint intuitively from the internalized inspiration of nature’s shapes, colors, and textures.  I love to experiment letting each composition unfold and change as I work.  I use a variety of approaches and interact with what is happening during the process. My work is very diverse. My finished works are not realistic renderings but my expressionistic interpretations.  My sense of design guides the creation of each painting.  I offer each piece to the viewer, hoping they will find beauty and enjoyment based on their own experiences and interpretations.

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I studied art at San Diego State and graduated with an Art Education degree.  I taught junior high school art for 3 years in San Diego, leaving to start a family. When returning to work, I received a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education and worked in that field for 35 years. I painted some but family and work seemed to take precedence.  My desire to experiment, explore new ideas, and create in a variety of mediums was kept alive as I worked with young children and college students.  Art was always a curriculum focus in the classes I taught, with the student teachers I supervised, and in the schools where I was the director.  I learned a lot about art and the process of creating art from the eager, fresh approach of young children. I returned to my painting after retiring in 2007 from the Education Dept. at Warner Pacific College in Portland Or. In 2012 I was asked to teach a mixed media & abstract painting class for the Mature Learning Program at Clark College in Vancouver, WA and I continued teaching there for 8 years.

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I am on the Society of Washington Artists Executive Board and previously served for 4 years as the Spring Show Chair. I am on The Mosaic Arts Alliance Executive Board serving as the show committee chair and I am a member of the Southwest Washington Watercolor Society. I have entered shows throughout the northwest and have won various awards.  Several paintings were accepted and I won in 3rd place in the 2019 national juried Associated Arts of Ocean Shores, WA Show. I have also shown work in the Gresham, OR., Sisters OR., and Longview, WA. I have had three different shows at The Second Story Gallery, in the Camas, WA Library.  In 2014, I exhibited at the First Unitarian Church in Portland. I have participated in 5 juried Clark County Open Studio Tours.  I won 1st place in the Oregon Society of Artists 2018 Rose Show and an honorable mention in 2020.