Artist Statement
My artwork spans the gamut of mediums, ranging from charcoal drawings, printmaking, oil painting, pottery, sculpture, darkroom developing to HDR photography. I love the traditional arts, but I find I am very passionate when it comes to using the mediums of technology: graphic and digital design, digital photography, high-dynamic-range (HDR) processing and photo-editing software.
Since graduating with a BFA in 1987, I have been teaching myself digital art. I used the World Wide Web for the first time around 1995, Adobe Illustrator in 1990, Photoshop 1.5 in 1991 and PageMaker in 1994. Although I have continued to make traditional art over the years, I have used digital design software professionally since 1988.
Within the last decade, I decided I wanted to learn how to make pottery and throw on the wheel. I enjoy pottery because it encompasses all the mediums I have worked in: sculpture, painting, printmaking and drawing. My work is both utilitarian and art for art’s sake.
Fine art and digital art have always been a dichotomy for me. On the one hand, I am embracing the digital age and all its technology. On the other hand, I enjoy the process of working in the darkroom and getting my hands dirty with clay. Knowing that my fine art is literally made by hand and not mass produced gives me satisfaction. I enjoy taking time away from the ‘immediate satisfaction’, slowing things down, sitting at my wheel, feeling the clay in my hands, smelling the earth, and making one cup at a time. When I’m back in the office, I always notice the wires, computers, cell phones, fax machines, and that one handmade coffee mug on someone’s desk; that one object transcending technology.
When I want to pick up the pace, I take out my digital camera. High-dynamic-range-photography is my new passion. Simply put, HDR is a series of different exposures of the same scene, combined in post processing so the image is “properly” exposed. Making HDR photography give me an opportunity to take advantage of the modern tools available, including the skills I have acquired over the years as a digital designer: digital SLR cameras, Adobe Photoshop, Alien Skin’s Eye Candy plugins, scanner, the internet, Nik’s Efex Pro plugins, and so on. Digital photography is a process of immediate satisfaction. Snap the picture, process the picture on my computer, and upload the photograph to Facebook.
Ironically, for all of today’s technology I aspire to make my photographs look more like paintings. My inspiration is definitely rooted in the traditional arts. A short list of my influences: Hudson River School artists’ detailed landscapes, Monet’s ever-changing haystacks, Caravaggio’s realism and intense use of light and shadow, Wayne Thiebaud’s texture and vibrant colors, Alice Neel’s emotion and character, Georgia O'Keeffe’s abstract-realism, and Edward Hopper’s emotional-realism. And my short list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Renaissance master, Andrea Mantegna, for his foreshortening, depth of field, and “worm-eye” perspective. My list of contemporary artists falls into the category of HDR photography: Trey Ratcliff, Rob Hanson, Bob Lussier, Michael Steighner, and Dave Wilson.
When I pause to ponder my art work in its cultural, contemporary and historical context, for the most part, technology is an overlapping theme. We are living in a society where new innovations are happening at lightning speed, influencing our families, jobs and recreation time. Has there ever been a time in history when an artist could go on site, take pictures, process the pictures on your iPad and instantly upload these pictures to your blog for immediate feedback? It’s crazy and wonderful! Thankfully, when I need to slow the pace down and feel grounded, I fall back on my painting, printmaking and pottery. The 'moment' usually dictates the medium of the day.
Since graduating with a BFA in 1987, I have been teaching myself digital art. I used the World Wide Web for the first time around 1995, Adobe Illustrator in 1990, Photoshop 1.5 in 1991 and PageMaker in 1994. Although I have continued to make traditional art over the years, I have used digital design software professionally since 1988.
Within the last decade, I decided I wanted to learn how to make pottery and throw on the wheel. I enjoy pottery because it encompasses all the mediums I have worked in: sculpture, painting, printmaking and drawing. My work is both utilitarian and art for art’s sake.
Fine art and digital art have always been a dichotomy for me. On the one hand, I am embracing the digital age and all its technology. On the other hand, I enjoy the process of working in the darkroom and getting my hands dirty with clay. Knowing that my fine art is literally made by hand and not mass produced gives me satisfaction. I enjoy taking time away from the ‘immediate satisfaction’, slowing things down, sitting at my wheel, feeling the clay in my hands, smelling the earth, and making one cup at a time. When I’m back in the office, I always notice the wires, computers, cell phones, fax machines, and that one handmade coffee mug on someone’s desk; that one object transcending technology.
When I want to pick up the pace, I take out my digital camera. High-dynamic-range-photography is my new passion. Simply put, HDR is a series of different exposures of the same scene, combined in post processing so the image is “properly” exposed. Making HDR photography give me an opportunity to take advantage of the modern tools available, including the skills I have acquired over the years as a digital designer: digital SLR cameras, Adobe Photoshop, Alien Skin’s Eye Candy plugins, scanner, the internet, Nik’s Efex Pro plugins, and so on. Digital photography is a process of immediate satisfaction. Snap the picture, process the picture on my computer, and upload the photograph to Facebook.
Ironically, for all of today’s technology I aspire to make my photographs look more like paintings. My inspiration is definitely rooted in the traditional arts. A short list of my influences: Hudson River School artists’ detailed landscapes, Monet’s ever-changing haystacks, Caravaggio’s realism and intense use of light and shadow, Wayne Thiebaud’s texture and vibrant colors, Alice Neel’s emotion and character, Georgia O'Keeffe’s abstract-realism, and Edward Hopper’s emotional-realism. And my short list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Renaissance master, Andrea Mantegna, for his foreshortening, depth of field, and “worm-eye” perspective. My list of contemporary artists falls into the category of HDR photography: Trey Ratcliff, Rob Hanson, Bob Lussier, Michael Steighner, and Dave Wilson.
When I pause to ponder my art work in its cultural, contemporary and historical context, for the most part, technology is an overlapping theme. We are living in a society where new innovations are happening at lightning speed, influencing our families, jobs and recreation time. Has there ever been a time in history when an artist could go on site, take pictures, process the pictures on your iPad and instantly upload these pictures to your blog for immediate feedback? It’s crazy and wonderful! Thankfully, when I need to slow the pace down and feel grounded, I fall back on my painting, printmaking and pottery. The 'moment' usually dictates the medium of the day.