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My
landscape paintings are characterized by wide-open spaces punctuated
by vertical and often repetitious suggestions of human presence.
My simple objective is to create a point of access for the viewer.
I achieve this through use of perspective that invites the viewer
to become part of the scene, and a paint quality that may reflect
back a fleeting memory of passing a less than ordinary scene. I
use bold colors to turn the desolate or banal into the pleasantly
nostalgic or magnificent, whether a simple, barren agricultural
field or an urban scene viewed from the window of a moving train
or car. The intimate scale of the organisms presents the paintings as objects. While they allude to embedded naturalist subject matter, they are also a way to recognize the pursuit for order exercised by scientific methods. Ultimately, these pieces reference my own quest for systemization, embodied by the square format that unifies my approach to painting. I grew up in Cabot, Vermont on a vegetable farm/greenhouse and nursery. Growing things is closely connected to the simplest skill in making art: it requires a lot of observation. I have been drawing and making things since I was very young, activities that were highly encouraged by both of my parents. I received a degree in fine art from Skidmore College in 1999 and now serve as Assistant Director for Burlington City Arts. The organization’s duality as a champion for accessibility and a promoter of contemporary art has been a good fit for me, and perhaps even emblematic of how I approach my work in the studio. Links to related artists' work:
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