Artist’s Statement

I strongly believe that the ability to draw is the most important basic skill for any artist.

The only consistency in my art is the lack of predictability – subject, style and medium evolve and change depending on my mood and inspiration. You will find the things I love reflected in my art; birds indigenous to Canada, discarded or abandoned artifacts like old wells, broken wagon wheels or tumbled down barns, people’s faces that tell a story, or the whimsical images straight out of my imagination.

Biography

While I was working as a Registered Nurse in Arnprior in the 1970’s, I became interested in pottery, purchased a potter’s wheel and started decorating and firing goblets, plates and canisters. In addition to many pottery courses, I also studied sculpture and painting at the Ottawa School of Art.

When I was 36, I left Nursing for four years when I was accepted into the two-year Ottawa High School of Commerce Fine Art program. The two year Algonquin College Graphic Design program followed.

I have studied under a number of outstanding artists in sculpture, oil, life drawing, watercolour, mixed media and acrylics, including Gordon Doyle, Victor Togasy, Murray Smith, Mary Whyte, and more recently Donata Szafian, Janice Miller-Hall, and Katherine McNenly. I have also taken many art courses, workshops and seminars over the years and I continue to take courses and attend workshops through the Kanata Art Club of which I am an active member.

I study life drawing since I believe that drawing the human figure is the corner stone of art skills and its disciplines trickle down into all areas of art. I find all forms of art rewarding and I use whatever medium is best suited to the subject. In 2009 I purchased a large kiln and started to produce my signature bowls, pendants and other fused glass pieces. I believe that all art must evoke an emotion in the viewer.

The pressures of having to “sell” is not my primary concern since art is my passion and not my vocation. I work for myself and for the pleasure of being creative. My studio is private and closed to the public.