To me, art is expression. Some people draw or sculpt. Some sing opera while others beat box. Some break dance, some are still as they compose a piece of poetry or literature. All of this is art, all expression.

I’ve been making art since my days in a high-chair. Throughout my childhood I learned many art forms, from flower pressing & macramé to theater and watching my grandmother make intricate stained glass. I even had a very brief stint as a trumpet player. The trumpet didn’t cut it, but other art forms did. I am comfortable with many different kinds of art media. When it comes down to it I want to use every artistic tool I have to create. I don’t want to be limited to being “a painter.” Sometimes even the word “artist” gets under my skin.

Whatever the medium, my home is the creative process. My images are made with oil or acrylic paint, pastels, newspapers & magazines or a pencil & a sharpie… sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract but always expressionary. I think that is what gives it distinctness. Whether or not one piece resembles the next is not the connecting thread in my body of work. The connection is me… my life.

What’s with the art therapy stuff? Well, Art therapy is my passion. I am studying it because I care about people and their experiences ... and I love to make art. I also love to facilitate art-making for others. I have seen art heal in my own life and the lives of others. Every piece of artwork I do is therapeutic in some way. If I paint something in honesty about myself, my feelings, or the world that image is another piece of me on display. I think people feel that way when they look at my art, like they are looking at the artist(or at least a facet of the person) in a way that could not be done through any other activity. It’s intimate really … Bonnie Sherr Klein said this best: “People seem to worry about self-expression that it is somehow too personal … Art has always been personal.”

That’s it.

An artist who makes pictures that look good but express nothing is like a writer whose words sound good but have no meaning. -Gerald Brommer

Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses. -Henry Moore

A plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit.- Kurt Vonnegut