Welcome

This gallery is particularly special to me, as the artist. These pieces are some of the earliest I did. It’s a curious process beginning to take yourself seriously as an artist. Right at first I was very over-confident. You hear “you’re so talented” enough times and think that you can immediately create great art. I also thought that making “pretty” or “cool-looking” art was all there was to it right at first. Along the path during art school, several people nudged me on my way to a more serious and humbling exploration of art and creation. Some were students, some were professors and some were artists I studied through their works and writings. 

Beginning to truly create took me down a path I could never have conceived of prior to actually experiencing it all. I went from being interested in artistic “success” and the rock-star factor that can be associated with certain artists to finding my own voice, embarking on a journey of healing and release, and ultimately wanting to help others embark on that journey in the ways that my influencers helped me. Art is so much more than what I was able to see from the outside. 

I truly couldn’t say who the most influential person in my artistic development was, as everyone in my memory brought something invaluable to me. One woman does stand out in my memory because firstly- she was a canny person that understood how to reach me, and secondly, I was prepared to receive what she had to share. This woman taught a figure drawing class that most of these works were created in. She has since passed on after a battle with cancer, but I can truthfully say she still often challenges and teaches me. 

She created a safe and vibrant space that was both secure and inspiring at the same time. She didn’t use gimmicks or tricks; only her own joy, wisdom and enthusiasm. She loved her students in a way that can’t be faked. She genuinely cared what had gone on in our lives outside of that class and wanted us to have the opportunity to both escape and express that in her class. She brought us food, she made us laugh, she knew when to interact with us and when to let us be, she looked at each of us and genuinely awed at the unique genius in each of us. She was and is my hero. 

These figure studies began with ambivalence. You look at a model or an anatomy diagram and- for the unfamiliar set of eyes- it is an overwhelming amount of information. Many of these pieces began with a completely insecure attitude, and ended with pride in what I had been able to accomplish. All of these pieces are imperfect. Much like a yoga practice- one simply gets more consistent and precise rather than reaching perfection. And the more familiar you are with anatomy, the more you realize there is to know. These studies humbled me and inspired me. I realized that I am capable and powerful, yet I am not instant genius either. 

“A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not.”

-Leonardo da Vinci