Line Etchings
Architecture is one of the strongest symbols we have that allow us to instantly recognize when and where we are in the world. The buildings in a big city are as diverse as the people who live there. They vary in size, color, material, detail, and age. Built over centuries by different people, buildings tell the story of our history. They have experienced the best and worst of humanity, seeing everything but revealing nothing. They are secret keepers, quiet and respectful of those who constructed them and those who worked and lived in them. They are strong protectors and provide shelter for those who need it. They oversee the progress of civilization, losing touch with nature as the population booms and more buildings are needed. And although their forms and details can be beautiful, they are not braggadocious, they stand proud and down to earth.
While their exteriors present us with strength and beauty, the contents and inhabitants of their interiors are often unexpected. Some businesses that occupy these buildings suit them perfectly like a butcher and shoe shop with their ground-floor large windows displaying their goods, while other businesses, like a dentist, go hidden within tall unassuming buildings down narrow hallways and behind frosted-windowed doors. As buildings and occupants come together, cities are born, gathering populations together onto one big stage. In a city, one can be incognito while being in plain sight, observing a dance of chaos where everyone’s roles intermingle perfectly. The fast pace of the city’s occupants intermingled with the slow meander of tourists against the backdrop of concrete and brick begin to balance each other, creating a calming and serene effect.
Watercolors
Architecture is one of the strongest symbols we have that allow us to instantly recognize when and where we are in the world. The buildings in a big city are as diverse as the people who live there. They vary in size, color, material, detail, and age. Built over centuries by different people, buildings tell the story of our history. They have experienced the best and worst of humanity, seeing everything but revealing nothing. They are secret keepers, quiet and respectful of those who constructed them and those who worked and lived in them. They are strong protectors and provide shelter for those who need it. They oversee the progress of civilization, losing touch with nature as the population booms and more buildings are needed. And although their forms and details can be beautiful, they are not braggadocious, they stand proud and down to earth.
While their exteriors present us with strength and beauty, the contents and inhabitants of their interiors are often unexpected. Some businesses that occupy these buildings suit them perfectly like a butcher and shoe shop with their ground-floor large windows displaying their goods, while other businesses, like a dentist, go hidden within tall unassuming buildings down narrow hallways and behind frosted-windowed doors. As buildings and occupants come together, cities are born, gathering populations together onto one big stage. In a city, one can be incognito while being in plain sight, observing a dance of chaos where everyone’s roles intermingle perfectly. The fast pace of the city’s occupants intermingled with the slow meander of tourists against the backdrop of concrete and brick begin to balance each other, creating a calming and serene effect.
Watercolors
When learning that I would be living in Germany for three years I decided to explore a different medium. I decided to try painting and embrace color. I invested in a set of watercolors so I could take them with me when visiting towns, cathedrals, museums and the countryside looking for inspiration.
I visited an old museum in Nice, France that had limited guards due to the creaky floors that alerted them to the wanderings of visitors. In the final gallery I came upon the works of Raoul Dufy and inspiration struck with the way he painted blocks of color and painted outside the lines.
I stopped at a small bookstore and asked if they had a book on Dufy. They didn’t but had just received a shipment. They searched the boxes and found a small fragile book titled, “Dufy” by the publisher Skira. Written in French I could not read the text, but the images spoke volumes.
I start a watercolor with a painted gesture drawing of colored blocks and line – it is freer than my detailed personality would normally allow. My organized, tight-knit self then takes over, drawing the image on top and adding detail. I don’t worry about having the first layer and the actual drawing “line up” as I feel it creates movement, shadows, shapes and textures in the work. I mix a bit of abstract with reality, breaking down the landscape and working out the puzzle of how everything fits together - pushing and pulling images with more watercolor and line until they click.
Ceramics
Ceramics are a way for me to explore form and three diamentional textures.
The work originated from underwater landscapes I observed while snorkeling. I first made singular coiled tubes then started connecting them to create more elaborate structures - I felt that there was an interaction between each tube as individuals that shared a secret, were in conversation with each other or that work together for the good of the group.
As my work developed, other sculptured pieces came across as large apartment buildings on a small scale where each person’s balcony represented by the marks I made on the surfaces of each piece. Placing several pieces together made a small city.
Although I started by working with porcelain lately I have been incorporating other materials into the clay. Copper shaving from my etchings create more variation on the surface with darkened marks. Mixing shredded scrapes of my left over printing paper into porcelain make paper clay - a nice connection to my etchings. While gardening in my backyard in Morristown, NJ*, I have found the iron rich clay workable and can stand up to intense firings especially when mixed with porcelian.
*General Washington settled in Morristown, NJ to use the iron rich soil to make cannon balls and other artillery.
The Appalachian Mountains are an estimated 480 million years old and once stretched from central Alabama into Canada, with the path cutting through New Jersey. Geologists say the ancient mountains once stood as high as the Alps. Over time they became eroded due to forces of nature such as wind and rain. In New Jersey, all that remains visible are the ridges of the worn and misshapen granite known as the Highlands.
Tucked within the granite that was left behind were stone pockets of iron ore and iron oxide. The richest of these deposits were found in Morris County, where I live.
Mining for iron is believed to have begun in the early 1700’s and became one of the chief economic resources of America during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Colonists used it in the Revolutionary War for tools, guns, canons and to forge giant chains to stretch across the Hudson to block enemy ships.
I visited an old museum in Nice, France that had limited guards due to the creaky floors that alerted them to the wanderings of visitors. In the final gallery I came upon the works of Raoul Dufy and inspiration struck with the way he painted blocks of color and painted outside the lines.
I stopped at a small bookstore and asked if they had a book on Dufy. They didn’t but had just received a shipment. They searched the boxes and found a small fragile book titled, “Dufy” by the publisher Skira. Written in French I could not read the text, but the images spoke volumes.
I start a watercolor with a painted gesture drawing of colored blocks and line – it is freer than my detailed personality would normally allow. My organized, tight-knit self then takes over, drawing the image on top and adding detail. I don’t worry about having the first layer and the actual drawing “line up” as I feel it creates movement, shadows, shapes and textures in the work. I mix a bit of abstract with reality, breaking down the landscape and working out the puzzle of how everything fits together - pushing and pulling images with more watercolor and line until they click.
Ceramics
Ceramics are a way for me to explore form and three diamentional textures.
The work originated from underwater landscapes I observed while snorkeling. I first made singular coiled tubes then started connecting them to create more elaborate structures - I felt that there was an interaction between each tube as individuals that shared a secret, were in conversation with each other or that work together for the good of the group.
As my work developed, other sculptured pieces came across as large apartment buildings on a small scale where each person’s balcony represented by the marks I made on the surfaces of each piece. Placing several pieces together made a small city.
Although I started by working with porcelain lately I have been incorporating other materials into the clay. Copper shaving from my etchings create more variation on the surface with darkened marks. Mixing shredded scrapes of my left over printing paper into porcelain make paper clay - a nice connection to my etchings. While gardening in my backyard in Morristown, NJ*, I have found the iron rich clay workable and can stand up to intense firings especially when mixed with porcelian.
*General Washington settled in Morristown, NJ to use the iron rich soil to make cannon balls and other artillery.
The Appalachian Mountains are an estimated 480 million years old and once stretched from central Alabama into Canada, with the path cutting through New Jersey. Geologists say the ancient mountains once stood as high as the Alps. Over time they became eroded due to forces of nature such as wind and rain. In New Jersey, all that remains visible are the ridges of the worn and misshapen granite known as the Highlands.
Tucked within the granite that was left behind were stone pockets of iron ore and iron oxide. The richest of these deposits were found in Morris County, where I live.
Mining for iron is believed to have begun in the early 1700’s and became one of the chief economic resources of America during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Colonists used it in the Revolutionary War for tools, guns, canons and to forge giant chains to stretch across the Hudson to block enemy ships.
