About the Artist

   BIOGRAPHY

What is abstract art? Like music, it allows us to transcend our own world and experience a total different reality. Through the use of color, line and form, abstract art is capable of transmitting expressive, historical, even philosophical information. But first, we need to cultivate the skills of imagination, non-concrete thinking, and intuition. And we need to trust our instinctive reactions, how we feel when we first confront a work of art that is foreign to our habitual or conventional way of seeing the world. There is so much that we miss.

My painting began in play, from the pure pleasure of applying color and paint to paper and canvas. When I first began to paint my goal was to see and really observe the simplicity and the clarity of things in life. That attempt was repeated again and again. In a certain painting a decision was made to carry the energy of some exquisite yellow flowers beyond the boundaries of the visual. Being open to intuition and possibility and finding the balance between color and form became my goal. That was my liberation surpassing my original vision.

I see the abstract everywhere; the stones in a stream, rushing water, the mold on a tree, a cloud in a landscape, and the landscape itself. At first, when I returned to painting, my abstractions required only watercolor and inks. Gradually, I added colored pencils, pastels, and collage, as the need arose. For the last fifteen years I have used mainly handmade paper. And finally I moved from watercolor to acrylic for the greater flexibility I found in the new medium.

Originally, I was a realistic painter. One day I was painting a vase of beautiful yellow daffodils. The yellow of those daffodils was so powerful and alive. The color rose up and seemed to fill the entire room At that  moment, I had a decision to make. Do I try to paint exactly what I saw in front of me or do I take the color beyond what was in front of me. A decision was made to carry that color into a parallel reality. That was, for me, the beginning of my own abstract painting.

About Technique

 
From the beginning I painted landscapes. It took me years to leave the horizon line behind. I thought that landscape would be the only way for people to relate to my work. Over and over again I tried to free myself. At heart, I am an abstract painter.

I work with history behind me. The years of looking at art and observing nature, it’s all there in every painting I do.

I painted in college for three years where I also studied Alber’s theory of color. Returning to painting many years later, I began by making my own paper. Because of time constraints I was forced to switch from making my own paper to using the paper that other people made. A family, a job, I could not be both a paper maker and a painter. The way I made handmade paper take to stain became more consistent. My images begged for collage. I put down my brushed and gained a new vocabulary. Eventually, I began to pour acrylic stain, mixed with colored particles into shallow containers. Then I peeled off the plastic and used it for collage work. Of course, I am always picking up interesting collage material – a dried up apple core, an amazing leaf, flower petals, pieces of rusted metal, weed and seeds – so many things, a feast for the discerning eyes.

Balance is so important when you leave the horizon line. There is nothing to cling to. However scary (fear is just another challenge) that is what my creative voice called for.

Soon, another journey began, a move toward simplicity. I’ve always loved the late work of Matisse, when he could no longer paint, the simplicity of his cutouts. He had rid himself of the extraneous and unnecessary. Like an emptied mind, simplicity is no easy goal.

I no longer look for beauty in my work. It’s all in the eyes of the beholder. It always surprises me when a client falls in love with a piece that I left long ago.

 Resume

February 8, 1946

Born in the Bronx, New York

September 1964 - June 1967

Attended UCLA, majoring in dance, then painting and sculpture.

September 1967 - June 1969

Graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute and pursued a career in pottery and tile making until her first child was born in 1984.

December 1984

Used watercolors for the first time while experimenting with handmade paper.

 Exhibitions

 2018 - present    

 Manhattan Arts International - international artist website. The Healing Power of Art.

Curator - Renee Phillips.

Burnette Gallery - group show.  Woodstock, NY

Woodstock Art Exchange - 2 woman show. Woodstock, NY

Catkskill Art and Office -  Woodstock, NY

 2010 - present    

2006 - Woodstock Artist Association, Inquiring Mind Book Store, The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

May5 - June 30, 2005

March 5 - April 30, 2005 Feb. 2005                               August 2004                                         

 Represented by Topka - Woodstock, NY

Richart Chocolate and Design Gallery, 7 East 55 St., NYC

 Coldwell Banker - Kingston, NY                                                                                                                                        Bank of America, Woodstock, NY                                                                                                                                The artist curated a show of 5 abstract artists under the title of "An Abstract Vision" for the Inquiring Mind Bookstore in Saugerties, NY.        

January 2004

In the corporate collection of Pfizer

July 2004

One woman show - Fleet Bank, Woodstock, NY

August 2004 - November 2005

One woman show - Woodstock Therapy Center

September - November 1994

Elena Zang Gallery, Woodstock, NY

November - December 1996

Hummingbird Jewelers, Rhinebeck, NY - solo show

May 1997

New World Home Cooking, Woodstock,NY - solo show

August 1999

Kleinert Gallery, Woodstock - group show

February - June 2000

Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY group

August 2000

Woodstock Artists Association - group show - Honorable mention

January - May 2001

Landau Grill, Woodstock - two person show

January - February 2001

Albert Shahinian Gallery, Poughkeepsie.NY two woman show

July - August 2001

Woodstock Artists Ass. - one woman show

September - November 2001

Blue Mountain Bistro, Woodstock - solo show

December 2001

Studio fire - all work and materials lost. A new beginning.

February 2002

Changes (Rauschenberg) financial assistance grant $1000

March 2002

Gottlieb Foundation, emergency assistance - $3500

2002-2003

New Art International - accepted into catalog

April 2002

Represented by Art Forms - Red Bank, NJ

March 2003

Fleet Bank, Woodstock, NY - solo show

May 2003

The Uptown, Kingston, NY - solo show

September - November 2003

Taught calligraphy/art class at G Washington Elementary School - TAP grant

November 2003

Represented by Woodstock Gallery of Art

May - June 1994

Mount Gulian Museum, Dutchess County - solo show

September 1994

Ambrosia Restaurant, Kingston, NY - solo show

September - November 1994

Elena Zang Gallery, Woodstock, NY

1989 - 1998

Ann Leonard Gallery, Woodstock,. N.Y. - represented for three periods of six months.