Artist's Statement

Boring stuff about me:  Just retired after teaching art for 44 years; Professor Emeritus at McPherson College; BA 1974 (Bethany); MA 1982 (UMKC); MFA 1997 (Fort Hays St.).  Involved in 185 shows and counting (local, regional, national, international); lots of awards; serve on various Boards of Directors and show committees.  Love to jury shows/exhibitions on any level.  Blah, blah, blah…..

Exciting stuff about my work!!:  I gleefully create functional pottery, love to draw from nature and live models, and enjoy producing lithographs.  That being said, my greatest pleasure is within the process of creating my watercolor paintings. I love the challenge of taking an initial concept, and then blending together bold color, pattern, spatial structure, a sense of whimsy, humor, surreal imagery, and technical skill with the never-ending search for personal meaning.  I honestly can’t say that I’m in love with watercolor, but this is the medium that best gives voice to my imagery. Since detail is such an important issue in my work, it is not unusual that any given painting may take 6 months to 3 years to produce.  Recently my secondary interest in theoretical physics has spilled over into the content of my paintings.  However, a tongue-in-cheek approach (why is 96% of the universe’s mass missing?) is taken since alternative theoretical/hypothetical explanations of multiple realities cannot be illustrated.  Hence, titles are meant to be humorous or ridiculous.  I enjoy poking fun at concepts that have no proof outside of mathematical constructs.