Background

After spending the first thirteen years of my life in the eastern half of the United States, my family moved to Seattle in the summer of 1970, where I still reside. 

I Started my fine art training at Cornish College of the Arts in 1977. In 1979 our daughter Laurel was born. I returned to my studies in painting and drawing at the School of Visual Concepts from 1981 - 1984.

In the early 1990's I started learning the scenic arts by apprenticing to the Master Scenic Painter at Seattle Children's Theater for two years, then went on to work for many theaters as a scenic painter and designer in Seattle, in addition to two plays for the Honolulu Theater for youth in Hawaii (1998), and one glorious summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland (1997).

I first started studying various printmaking techniques at Sev Shoon Studios in the early 2000s. I continue my printmaking practice by taking Letterpress classes at the School of Visual Concepts, and working on projects independently or with other individual artists.

I still design and paint for the theater when an alluring project comes along, especially in the last couple of years with the wonderful crew at Cafe Nordo, and in addition to my printmaking practice, I have continued to paint and exhibit  widely in the Northwest (as well as in New York City, Spain, Switzerland and Germany) for over 30 years, most recently joining CORE gallery in Seattle in 2023.  

My most common medium is reverse oil painting on glass, but I am also an avid sketcher and often bring watercolors along with my pencils whenever I travel as I find it a more satisfying way to capture memories than just taking photos.

Printmaking has been has been another pursuit of mine for many years: linoleum block, monoprint, etching, and letterpress. As printmaking is a discipline for which a certain measured precision is required, I find the process to be a nice contrast to the directness of painting and drawing. 

When I have an opportunity to design & paint sets for theater, it can be stimulating to leave the solitary existence of working in my studio sometimes, to get out there and be part of a team working together to bring a project to life.

Visual Art & Theater Arts resumes are available upon request

I am interested in storytelling, in the way we think about ourselves and how that manifests in our communal folklore and mythologies. 

I often draw inspiration for my work from various common wells of cultural/historic/literary symbolism & imagery. It seems to me that maybe one can more easily bypass the reactive mind of the observer -- to perhaps open up another kind of communication -- when my observations are presented in the guise of familiar-seeming stories and well known characters.

Frequently, I use animals as surrogates, or employ various visual twists and odd combinations to draw the viewer in; to engage their imaginations towards what I always hope will be a fruitful conversation.