Statement

The brain constructs it’s view of reality. My work is based on the things I love or maybe even things I despise. I use this conflict to reflect the conflict I experience in my own psyche and through observation in the daily life around me. As an Art Therapist I find that often the eye picks up two-dimensional images and the brain processes them and produces a completely new picture. The world is constructed, not only of real-life data but perceptions and memories and things stored in the unconscious and then becomes one’s own view of reality.

My subjects today include horses which were around me in my early years in Kentucky. Horses probably appeared in my childhood art before the normal representations of family that children usually make. Today, I might be working from a photograph or a specific memory or I begin with a concept that gets stored off to the side as I pick up art-making tools. I may have made a trip somewhere new to come away with fresh views or a fresh outlook on a subject, or I begin with a prompt such as thoughts of the living room, a old photo, or from a piece of writing I am working on. I may begin with generalities and gradually fill in the specifics much as a witness to a crime does.

My background in Art Therapy stirs my imagination towards the inner workings of people. My goal is to entice the viewer into the work and hope his or her experience gives way to something more than was originally expected. I sometimes call myself a psychological realist.