Artist Statement

Ever since high school I have been drawn to the abstract shapes made by shadows on faces and folds in cloth or plastic. I began working from photographs and still lives of plastic bags, crinkled paper, and folded canvas, using them as rough guidelines for my paintings. I was both encouraged by professors and inspired by the work of other art students to make larger paintings, my previous paintings standing no more than two feet tall. By increasing my scale I was able to turn my still lives and photographs into abstract atmospheres and landscapes, transforming everyday objects into shapes that morph into one another, playing with positive and negative space, solids and voids. I see this series as an accurate way to track my progression and improvement with my knowledge and execution of painting. I have learned to loosen up my paint application, to be more impulsive and expressive rather than to plan every moment and detail. My biggest challenge with this series was taking, risks, breaking away from my attachment to my previous ideas for painting and feeling brave enough to cover up and repaint large parts of the painting. The less I plan, compose and allow for freedom and spontaneity the more interesting and fresh my paintings become.

Artist Biography

I am a Senior at Bard College and will receive a BA in Studio Art in the spring of 2010. I have lived in Lexington since I was four years old, having attended the Lexington Waldorf School, then the Rivers School in Weston. My passion for creating art comes from the constant exposure to and encouragement of art at the Waldorf School and developed throughout high school, becoming a serious consideration for my major in college. In high school I also found a passion for Art History, which has led me to take numerous classes and has directly influenced the way I view contemporary art and the way I make my own. I have been involved with set design and construction for student-run theatre productions at Bard and for the past two summers have been working part-time as a studio assistant to a potter in Rockport, MA. I am frequently asked what medium I work with, which is a hard question to answer because I go through phases of trying new media. I have experience with oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, drawing and pottery. More recently I have taken up stained glass window making in preparation for my Senior Thesis. Art is something that, regardless of where I end up or what job I have, I will want to do every day for the rest of my life.