Exhibiting Artist

My approach to mixed media assemblage begins with a central image, idea, or theme.  I construct the composition around a main subject.  Initially, I build a wooden box, sand it, and prime it with gesso.  Then I line the box with paper for a surface to draw or paint upon.  I also apply drawings, painting or prints I have made as primary or secondary images.  Over the years, I have collected:  a variety of art papers, small objects, twigs, pieces of wood, anonymous photos, tiny furniture, antique buttons, broken jewelry, old toys, fabric, bits of metal and glass.  I use this resource to pick and select just the right forms for my composition.    I fabricate identities for the anonymous people in old photographs.  My primary aim is to create a story within the box to suggest fictional lives.  I use fiction to state truth.  I seek harmony, but I recognize discord is ever present, which requires me to ensure balance and compromise. A secondary aim is to unify the various elements within the composition to create an intimate space containing kinetic energy.  The shallow space within the box allows for certain elements to sway and thus create sound as well as movement.  Sound suggests life.

I am drawn to the boundless potential and limitless compositions possible within the structure of the simple wooden box.