Guild Members
My art has been described as bold and bright. I like that because that is the way I want to live my life. I paint as if it is a diary. My work reflects my life at the moment. If I go to the beach, I try to capture the sunsets, the salt air, and the changing marshes. If I spend a week with my grandchildren, I want to catch the innocence and the playfulness in my paintings. Current affairs will sneak in occasionally. The African museum just opened in Charleston, and I’m painting women ( a favorite subject) of African descent incorporating native fabric. I concentrate on subjects that bring joy and have meaning to me while always looking for a new vision and a new way to tell a story.
The beautiful natural environment of Kiawah Island, SC, has inspired most of my landscape paintings. I want my artwork to capture the attention of the viewers and transfer them into my chosen beautiful spots, which I hope will give them pleasure. In my portrait paintings, I attempt to convey the character and emotions of the person behind the face.
I started to exercise my drawing & painting- skills seriously at an Art & Design Institute in Izmir, and after graduation, I worked as a textile-designer for two of the major textile manufacturers there. I had evening classes at the Stockholm art academy and the Cincinnati Art Academy for portrait and landscape paintings. I worked also for Ikea as an educational interior designer for 3.5 years in Stockholm, after I owned a clothing design business for 11 years.
I have more than 50 paintings, and many drawings, due to my not selling them. I'm still in learning level with each painting experience.
Now I look forward to this opportunity to share my artwork with you all.
Thirty years ago I began my foray into art. What began as a journey accompanying my best friend on her recovery from breast cancer resulted in personal metamorphosis and growth. I did not believe that I "had an artistic bone in my body" but agreed to accompany my friend to an art class in steel sculpture. It was an empowering experience when the sparks flew, but I had to challenge my “scientific side” and learn to enjoy the creative process.
Metalsmithing naturally followed steel sculpture as a medium. Like steel sculpture, silversmithing is 3-dimensional, and using fabrication, soldering and brazing. But silver and soft metals have their own unique characteristics that have actively kept me learning new techniques.
Every piece that I create is a new learning experience and a new way of manipulating the medium. My art may not look like there is a unifying "style," but each three dimensional work is based upon reassembling rigid stock into a fluid design that informs the remainder of the piece.
My husband and I have been Kiawah Island property owners since 1990 and permanent residents since 2019. I maintain my art studio in my home.
I have loved to draw and paint since childhood. My parents and art teacher recognized my interest and talent and recommended I attend weekly workshops. In college, I pursued art education and never looked back. Teaching children of all ages and abilities for thirty-plus years brought joy to my life. After retirement, I moved to Kiawah Island. Here, I begin my day painting in my studio or venturing out to photograph vistas and wildlife for inspiration. When people ask me which medium I prefer, I say anything and everything! I love working in oils, pastels, watercolors, acrylics, and pen-and-ink. I especially enjoy making people happy by creating portraits of their pets and homes.
Of Catalan and Cuban ancestry, I lived and studied in Barcelona, Spain through the 1960s. In this “modernista” (i.e, Art Noveau) city, I immersed himself in what would become a life-long love affair with the visual arts by visiting art museums and salons exhibiting the work of local and international painters. At that time, Barcelona’s prominence in the nascent Bauhaus, Noveau and Surrealist movements gave me much inspiration.
I emigrated to the United States and obtained a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Kansas in 1969. I then began a 48-year long career in neurotrauma and stroke research. I taught neuroscience to medical students at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. where I was professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology until my retirement in 2016. With my wife Lori, we currently reside both in Valparaiso, IN and Kiawah Island, SC. I am a member of both Kiawah and Seabrook Island Art Guilds.
During my long scientific career, I published numerous line drawings of brain cells using integrated microscopic, camara lucida and computerized techniques. However only a few years before my retirement, I began to understand the complexities of color, values and light intensity needed in depicting perspective and therefore, successful painting. This process was largely facilitated through my participation in workshops, demos, and critiques in the above Guilds. My preferred media are oils and acrylics and the subject matter for my paintings is eclectic, ranging from the Low Country flora/fauna and landscapes, as well as an occasional portrait done mostly in naturalistic/impressionistic styles.
I’m a contemporary abstract artist working in mixed media: acrylic, pastels, inks and collage. I’m inspired by the sense of wonder our coastal landscape evokes, and I’m drawn to vibrant color, subtle texture and unexpected collage elements that spark curiosity! In my artwork, I often incorporate hand-made papers from my travels - things like Japanese chiyogami, Egyptian papyrus, and Italian hand-marbled paper. I also integrate vintage "working" papers: maps, dressmaking patterns, microfiche, foreign currency & more! My paintings are infused with meaning, explained in each artwork’s written description. I accept commissions.
Growth, experimentation and exploration are central to my practice. For me, art is a visual and emotional language that expresses the goodness of God, the endless ways that beauty manifests itself around us, and the power of possibility.
Living with my art means...
Wrapping yourself in soothing color and rich texture
Feeling joy in your living space
Living creatively!
I started painting many years ago without formal training. I have gradually, over an extended time, transitioned from pastel to oil, to water based oil, and now I also dabble in water color. I paint to relax and have that feeling of personal accomplishment that comes with a painting that "works". We built a studio in our home several years ago to help keep my "hobby" reasonably under control. I paint for personal enjoyment, not selling any works, but the good ones seem to migrate to my children's homes so my studio walls are always changing. I do mostly landscapes and scenes involving fly fishing, which is my real passion.
I am an American painter who works with acrylic and pastel on canvas and paper. Influenced by abstract expressionist Richard Diebenkorn and French impressionists Pierre Bonnard and Claude Monet, my work is a snapshot of the changing scenes and stories unfolding around me.
