about the artist
I am an abstract painter who has been active as a professional artist for several decades. I moved to Memphis in 1997 to accept a teaching position at Memphis College of Art. I had been living in small towns in the Midwest, abstracting the familiar landscape of flat rural places in my paintings. After moving to Memphis, my work became about the urban landscape around me: parking lots, sidewalks, roads. I worked from photos I took along the river in Harbor Town and in big box parking lots like Target, places where I could see an expanse of uninterrupted sky. In my paintings I transform the mundane urban landscape with diffuse atmosphere and exaggerated color.
In 2009, I quit taking photos and began utilizing Internet traffic information as the basis for increasingly abstracted images. Recently a move to a new studio near I-55 put highways, changing weather conditions, and long vistas directly outside my window. I can experience first hand what I have been viewing online: weather, light, atmosphere, space. In my paintings and watercolors, the emotional impact of my deserted panoramas is more important than accurate representation of the scene. I am influenced by 19th century American landscape painting and by the Buddhist concept of groundlessness.
I have taught a generation of students at Memphis College of Art, both graduate students and undergraduates. It has been a privilege to nurture the development of young artists. For the past few years I have also taught adults at Flicker Street Studio. In addition to visual art, I have been active in the music scene as a volunteer at WEVL 89.9 FM in Memphis since 1998. For fourteen years I hosted a two-hour radio show, “House Bayou”, as well as substitute-hosted for blues shows. I am amazed by the growth of the visual art scene in the twenty-two years I have lived in Memphis. Before I even moved here I knew it was a music city. Then I discovered the active theater community. Now I can say Memphis is all that and a thriving art city. This is a great time to be a Memphis-based artist.
