Artist’s Statement

I am a self-taught visual artist and an academic by training, Although I did not begin to paint until my mid-fifties, I have for the past fifteen years dedicated my energies to developing artistic competence and to representing my ideas and visions in a variety of media.

As a young woman I lived and traveled for several
years in Europe before  returning to the U.S. and commencing graduate studies in English. I began my PhD as a single parent, receiving the degree in 1979 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. After spending most of the eighties and nineties in the San Francisco Bay Area, my birthplace, I returned to Columbia upon retiring in 1999. My retirement was brief: within a year I was teaching at the university and beginning  to exhibit my work around town.

 My late-blooming career as an artist was a surprise, an unexpected gift.
I drew as a child, and as an adult I continued to do occasional pen-and-ink drawings but never considered pursuing art seriously. But a few years before retirement I began a series of paintings that I have worked on ever since.
They feature hybrid creatures that partake of various species characteristics
and that are often intensely engaged with one another across the species
divide. A dog and a deer share a meal; a cat dances with a bird; a stag lifts up
a small  possum; mouse-girls wearing raccoon masks lie in bed with their pet cats.  These creatures visited my imagination suddenly and vividly. My first such visitation was a white cat in a yellow dress, which inspired a not very good painting of what was for me a very compelling creature. I’ve gone on to translate these creatures into other media: collages, shrines, dolls, even a deck of cards.  Collectively, they constitute a whole world that resembles ours but is more
joyful, more loving.

I moved to Minneapolis in June 2010 and am now investigating the art          community here. In Columbia I had three one-person shows on the University
of Missouri campus; participated in three group shows at Stephens College,
also in Columbia; had individual and group shows at restaurants and at our
local art theater; and exhibited single works in larger shows, where I won
awards for paintings and mixed media pieces. I taught art workshops and
helped to found two art galleries in Columbia: The Arsenic Leopard and Spare Parts Gallery.  I continue to sell work at another gallery there and now have
pieces in U.S. private collections from Hawaii to New York City and in Mexico.

Although in a technical sense I am self-taught, my work does reflect a long
study of the arts. Influences range from medieval manuscript illuminations
to early modern painters such as Matisse, Picasso, and the German
Expressionists. I try to learn from the artists whom I admire by echoing what
they have done, as a form of homage. They afford lenses through which I can look at the creatures of my own imagination. In the end, my broadest
commitment is this:
I believe in imagining better worlds, representing them in art, and working to make our own environments resemble our visions.

Academic and Professional Background

In 1978 I received a PhD in English, with a graduate minor in Art History, from the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.

I subsequently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where throughout the
1980s I worked in various capacities as an instructional designer, an instructor   in university extension and continuing education programs, a program administrator, and an academic editor. From 1991 until my retirement in 1999,
I managed course development and instruction for the University of California’s system-wide independent study program.

After retiring, I returned to Columbia, where between 2000 and 2006 I taught courses in English, in Gender Studies, and in the Honors College at the  University of Missouri. During that period I also designed and taught special topics courses related to my new interests as a visual artist:the fairy tale, nonhuman characters in literature, and themes of mutation and metamorphosis in modern fiction.  Between 2007 and 2010 I taught several community  workshops in collage techniques and in developing one’s creative potential, designed primarily for adults who had no previous artistic training.

Exhibitions

Individual
Nov. 2009, “Secret History of Hybrid Beings” (paintings, collages, mixed media), University of Missouri Craft Gallery
Fall 2007, paintings, Ellis Library, University of Missouri
Spring 2007, “Escape from Us” (collaborative mixed media works), Ragtag Cinema
Fall 2004, paintings, Ellis Library, University of Missouri
Fall 2002, paintings, Ragtag Cinema

Group
2008, “The Art of Slow Food” benefit, Orr Street Studios
2006, “Full Deck: la loteria,” Mattie Rhodes Art Gallery, Kansas City
2006, Moberly Area Community College Open House Exhibition
2005, “Mixed Greens,” Stephens College Gallery
2002, “Three Woman Artists,” Stephens College Gallery
2000, 2008, 2009, “Women in the Arts,” University of Missouri Craft Gallery
Member and juried exhibitions at the Columbia Art League, 2000-2009
Annual Boone County National Bank community-wide exhibitions for                                 Columbia’s Fall Arts Festival, 2000-2009

Awards

2009, Boone County National Bank annual exhibition, Honorable Mention: “Blue Puss in Boots” (mixed media)
2008, Columbia Art League Members’ Show, First Place: “A Gathering of Birds” (mixed media)
2005, Columbia Art League juried show, Honorable Mention: “The Golden Visitor” (painting)
2003, Columbia Art League Member’s Show, Best in Show: “A Delicate Balance” (painting)
2002, Boone County National Bank annual exhibition, First Place Nonprofessional Painting: “My Summer in Provence” (painting)
2001, Boone County National Bank annual exhibition, Honorable Mention: “What Did I Do Wrong?” (mixed media)
2000, Boone County National Bank annual exhibition, First Place Nonprofessional Painting: “The Reading Room” (painting)

Galleries

During my ten years in Columbia, I was active in promoting opportunities for local artists by helping to start small, downtown galleries featuring affordable art.

2009-10, Helped plan and organize Artlandish Gallery, 1019 East Walnut St., Columbia, MO 65201 (Lisa Bartlett, owner: http://www.site.artlandishgallery.com/

2007-08, Co-founder and partner, Spare Parts Gallery, 8 South 9th St. (now closed)

2003-06, Co-founder and partner, The Arsenic Leopard, 1031 East Walnut St. (now closed)