Poet Rhina Espaillant says, “Writing is the process of listening internally - to understand what it is the poem wants to be.” For me, it is the same in painting except that I look more than I listen.
There are many doorways of transition and transformation that each of us experience in the course of a lifetime, some that are of our own choosing, and some that unexpectedly slam behind us.It is at those times that our perception shifts, priorities change and beliefs are challenged.
For several years I have focused on two motifs that serve as my metaphors to explore these questions. One example from nature – the tree, another man made – the house. Both of these endure the hostility of the ever-changing environment. Both serve as shelter. Both are equipped with different methods of coping and both ultimately decay. They bear witness to time’s constant wearing away on any notion of permanence, while I watch.
While watching, I seek brief moments of clarity, little glimpses of grace, the times when my eyes are focused so intently on seeing what is behind that damn veil of unknowing that I finally begin to see the hazy outline of something. I strive to give form to that something. I am filled with hope when I see a shape that remains the same no matter where I stand, and sustained by the knowledge of its existence even when it is hidden. I watch bare tree limbs reach unashamed and unprotected into the winter sky. I feel the fearlessness, the unwavering faith in the potential buds they carry while blissfully ignorant of what storms lay ahead.
Like a poet, I seek to extract some sort of meaning from these observations and find a way to share the encounter through shapes and colors on a flat surface. As Stephen Dobyns has so articulately written, “A work of art gives testimony as to what it is to be human." It is an exchange between one human being and another in an attempt to communicate and offer some existential relief in the recognition of our shared experience. I am a wordless poet, therefore I paint.
Artist Statement
EDUCATION
M.F.A. in Painting, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA, 2009
B.F.A. in Printmaking, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA 1988
magna cum laude
RECENT SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS:
Finding My Way
Cove Gallery, Wellfleet, MA July 2017
Dualing Colorists
Cove Gallery, Wellfleet, MA July 2016
Common Threads
Group Show, Highfield Historic Hall, Falmouth, MA 2015
Relationships
Cove Gallery, Wellfleet, MA July 2015
Revelations
Cove Gallery, Wellfleet, MA August 2014
Transitions
Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, MA October 2013
A Space in Time
Cove Gallery, Wellfleet, MA July 2013
Color Notations
Cove Gallery, Wellfleet, MA July 2012
Timeless Explorations
Cape Museum of Art, Dennis MA Dec 2011
Memories of Color
Addison Art, Orleans, MA. August 2011
Translucent Revelations
Addison Art, Orleans, MA. July 2010
Remembered Encounters
Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, MA June 2010
Interpretations
Addison Art, Orleans, MA July 2008
Explorations in Light and Color
Addison Art, Orleans, MA July 2007
Meditations in Color
Addison Art, Orleans, MA – 2005
Along the Way
Cape Cod Community College, 2005 Retrospective
and artist in residence
Expressive Realism
Old Selectmen’s Bldg., W. Barnstable, MA - 2003
The Journey Continues
Old Selectmen’s Bldg., W. Barnstable, MA - 2001
RESUME
RECENT JURIED REGIONAL,
NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL AND INVITATIONALSHOWS
Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY 76th Regional figurative exhibition
"Contemplation"
Blanche Ames National Exhibition, Easton, MA 2018, First Place
"Contemplation"
Contemporary Cape Cod Artists: Images of Land and Sea
Invitational Exhibition of Artist’s included in Deborah Forman’s newly
released book of the same titled, published by Schiffer 2013,
Tao Water Gallery, Barnstable, MA 2013
The Magnificent Splendor of Trees
Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA 2013
LandEscapes II
The Great Room Gallery, Yarmouthport Common 2012
Paper/Process
Cape Cod Community College, Higgens Art Gallery 2010
Boston Young Contemporaries
College of Fine Arts, Boston Univeristy - 2009
Northeast Prize Show
Cambridge, MA Juror: Willikam Stover, Curator, MFA Boston - 2009
MFA Thesis Show
Umass Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA - 2009
National Prize Show
Cambridge, Ma Juror: Cheryl Brutvan, Curator, MFA Boston - 2006
Art of the Northeast
Silvermine Guild Gallery, New Caanan CT
Juror: Harry Philbrick, Director Aldrich Museum - 2003
Impressions, Prints of the Northeast
Creative Arts Workshop, New London, CT
Juror: Gabor Peterdi, Yale University
International Print Exhibit
Clary-Minor Gallery, Buffalo, NY
25th Annual Red River Exhibit
Plains Art Museum, Moorhead, MN
3rd Biennial International Print Exhibit
Somerstown Gallery, Somerstown, NY
Images of Four Women Printmakers
South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA
Women Creating
CMFA Dennis, MA - 2002
Four Friends and a Paintbrush
Group Exhibition, Brewster Ladies Library, Brewster, MA – 2001