(Photo by Mark McD Photos)
As in all of my art, I find the old, the broken, the forgotten, the decaying process of nature to be the most interesting and the most beautiful. Perhaps a flower’s bloom is not nature at it’s finest, for there is also beauty in it’s decay as well. There is splendor within the flower’s wilting blooms, within the seeds, pods, and leaves all in their unique stages of decomposition. Without the decay of one year, there would be no fresh beauty in the next.
I use a painterly palate of tones, textures and colors in my photography to bring out the essence in nature’s life cycle. Each still life is carefully arranged in natural sunlight, using rotting boards and rusting metals as a backdrop, then photographing, rearranging, and photographing again many times until just the right character is captured. And then it is sent back to the earth to feed the insects, birds and next year’s growth.
Since that time my monotypes and photographs have been in shows and galleries from New York to Los Angeles, including exhibitions at both Lafayette College and Penn State, as well as taking 2nd prize out of 1800 artists in Juxtapose magazine’s worldwide competition. My monotypes are in the permanent collection of City Center Allentown, and I have also had the great honor of being the inaugural artist at the grand opening of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.
2023 Guest speaker at Moravian Academy - Bethlehem, PA
2023 Book cover for MaryAnn Miller "Falling Into The Diaspora"
2019 Banana Factory Resident Artist
2018 Permanent Collection - City Center Allentown
2017 InVision2017 - Instagram Photo Contest - 1st place
2017 Artist of the Year - Arts Community of Easton
2016 Juxtapose Dream Big Competition - 2nd place winner out of 1800 artists
2016 Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center - Inaugural Artist for grand opening
2003 Permanent Collection - Tom of Finland Foundation