Artist Statement

My new series of paintings is of lotus blossoms painted in a traditional fashion that are set in abstract settings. The backgrounds are created by thousand of dots. When the dots are in clusters they form patterns of waves and orbs. There is a sense of motion.

My intent is to create paintings that are uplifting. I focus on a benevolent thought with each dot. Hopefully the viewer can experience the joy consciously or unconsciously.

I choose lotus blossoms as a theme for this series because of their beauty and long history with many cultures. Often, the opening of the bud is interpreted as the integration of wisdom and blossoming of the individual.

My settings for the lotus are more meditative with the space being a bit ambiguous. The waves and floating orbs represent unseen nature spirits and/or vibrations in the atmosphere or waves of water. I have enjoyed painting the backgrounds with different combinations of color to enhance the idea of happiness.

Artist History

I became fascinated by the dramatic shifting moods of nature when I lived in rural Maine for 12 years.  As a result, I enrolled in the Portland School of Art in Portland, Maine (now called the Maine College of Art), graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in painting in 1990.

That year I moved to Concord, Massachusetts and started painting images of the local landscape.  In May of 2006 I went to Sicily and Venice.  There the Madonna lily caught my attention.  The Latin name for the lily is Lilium Candidum.  It was highly prized in gardens throughout the Mediterranean going back to the Bronze Age.  It was always associated with female goddesses. Later, in early Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church adopted this lily for a symbol of purity and the Virgin Mary.  I enjoy the Madonna lily, both as a garden flower and as a symbol. I continued to explore the flower symbols with the lotus flower.

My most recent work continues with the lotus but bridges over into symbols and ideas written about in Theosophical teachings and from Agni Yoga. The work has become more personal, simple, and abstract.

Exhibitions

2012 Mount Auburn Healthcare at Waltham, Waltham, MA - Group Show
2011 Lesley University, Cambridge, MA - The Dotted Pleasure Series
2010 Waltham Windows - window displays of local artists
2010 Discovering What's Next, Newton Public Library
2009 Waltham Windows - window displays of local artists
2009 Attleboro Arts Museum - group show of flowers
2008 Bentley College, Waltham, MA – Group show (President’s house)
2008 The Painted Caravan, Johnson, VT – Group Show
2007 Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA – Group Show
2004 Brandeis University, Women’s Studies Research Center, Waltham, MA – Group Show
1999 Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA – Summer Show, Group Show
1997 Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA – Summer Show, Group Show
1996 Federal Reserve Bank Gallery, Boston, MA – Group Show
1993-2008 Annual Open Studios at the Waltham Mills Artists’ Association, Waltham, MA

Education

1990 Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree – Portland School of Art (Maine College of Art)
1972 Bachelor of Arts Degree – University of Colorado (Major in History)