While some of my paintings may seem quite still, I am drawn to the idea of flight, flying, and understanding objects in flight. Most of my work is legibly drawn, with clear, vibrant colors and realistically rendered objects. These objects—nearly all of them familiar, such as fruit, houses, birds, planes—are out of their usual context, asking the viewer to linger and ponder the resulting juxtapositions.
Much of my recent work uses embedded maps to recall locations and events from my past. Other elements, such as flying and inanimate objects, form a legend or symbology that helps to unpack the meanings we associate with significant places and events. I continue to be inspired by the aesthetic possibilities of the ancient and challenging encaustic (pigmented beeswax) medium. Encaustic allows me to combine the graphic and the painterly in works that explore a sense of place and nostalgia. The layers of wax medium cause the images to blur, as if softened through memory and distance.
I was born near Chicago and received a B.F.A. in painting from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1993. I live and work in Easton, PA.