ARTIST STATEMENT

Throughout my lifetime, I’ve been fascinated by the human psyche. My ongoing studies in Jungian psychology, dream interpretation, Eastern philosophy, numerous types of alternative medicine, the I Ching and mandala drawing as well as my active meditation practice have served to answer many of my own personal questions in understanding this realm.

Jung describes the ‘collective unconscious’ as the ‘reservoir of the experiences of our species’ and I first discovered this realm while studying classical piano at a very early age. While playing, I often had the experience of the music playing through me rather than myself playing the piano and I would experience a sensation of deep inter-connectedness with this ‘greater consciousness’. Now, through meditation and my artwork, it is easier for me to access this feeling, but to articulate the experience in simple words continues to be nearly impossible. So, it is through my painting that I find a language and vocabulary to express some of what I’ve gleaned – including an indisputable feeling that all living things (the planet included) are inter-connected and inseparable.

When I begin an abstract painting, I have no attachment to (and usually no idea of) the final outcome. I relax into a meditative state and step completely out of the way of my ego to allow whatever wants to be expressed through the language of the oil paint. It’s up to the viewer to interpret what is revealed on the canvas -- and each person is permitted to take away a message that is completely personal to him or her.


"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite." -- William Blake

Artists and others who inspire my work:

Vassily Kandinsky Pablo Picasso Jackson Pollock Cy Twombly Georgia O'Keeffe Lucian Freud Vincent Van Gogh Jasper Johns Hans Hoffman Willem de Kooning Helen Frankenthaler Mark Rothko Paul Klee Hokusai Betty Woodman Ishmael Soto Brother Thomas Niki de Saint Phalle Thrangu Rinpoche Lao Tzu Carl Jung