I have lived and worked on the South Shore of Lake Superior since the early 70s. The light here changes everything — the way it moves across the water, through the birches, into my studio.
Early Influences
Before I could hold a proper brush, I was filling coloring books and cutting paper dolls. My grandfather would sit with me, encouraging me to draw with crayon and watercolor. The huge stained glass windows of my rural church — those were my first art museum. I did not know it then, but I was learning to see in layers.
Education
In 1972, I earned my Master's in Art from the University of Minnesota Duluth. But the real education never stopped. I am still learning, still looking, still surprised.
The Process
There is always a narrative running through my head as I work. I find images that relate to my intention — photographs from travels, fragments of memory, details that caught my eye in a museum halfway around the world. I do a lot of selecting and discarding before I actually start. When I have it in my head, I work fast.
The results, after combinations are put down, surprise me. Things emerge that I did not plan. When I do a final color print on watercolor paper, I work back into it with pastels, paint, pencil, ink. The layers talk to each other.
The Storehouse
My biggest influences are things I see and store as I travel. I am an avid museum-goer — ancient and modern art. I do a lot of drawing for reference, often focusing on one piece or detail. I rarely refer specifically to the drawings in my sketchbooks, but it is all in the storehouse. Everything I have seen is in there somewhere, waiting.
Wisconsin Connection
I have been active in the northern Wisconsin art scene for decades — Superior, LaPointe, the North End Arts Gallery. This place shaped me as much as I have tried to capture it.