If, as poet Amy Lowell said, “Art is the desire to express oneself, to record the reactions of one’s personality to the world s/he lives in,” then I guess I’ve been reacting to people, places and things—inanimate and otherwise-- for a long time. It’s been an exciting journey, keeping my senses open to the universe of color, line and shape wherever I witness it—from my home studio, the live model workshops at The Art Students League, to the ancient peaks of Machu Picchu. There’s as much wonder to be had in a cat’s brief and unexpected pose as spotting a woman’s yellow sunhat in old San Juan.
I was born in Bakersfield, California where hot sun-filled hours were a daily reality. Though I’ve loved the kinetic rhythms of New York City where I’ve resided for the last several decades, the color and vibrancy of warm climates continue to fascinate me and this is often reflected in the subjects I choose to paint.
The artistic muse can take many forms and I’ve always tried to be open to all its aspects—drawing and painting were my first love from school days, then theatre, writing, and photography followed. Through travel, I’ve discovered how captivating a new perspective can be to an artist’s eyes. Keeping a camera always at the ready for the unexpected can be a great source of inspiration when back home again.
I also derive inspiration from visits to museums and galleries, refreshing my eyes with the works of new and old masters of the visual arts. This exposure not only helps my own approach to the canvas but is expressed through my ongoing reviews and articles on the arts and the culture at large.
In the last few years, I have had both solo and group exhibits in Connecticut and upstate New York and was elected to membership in the National Association of Women Artists (N.A.W.A.) in 2014. This has afforded me several opportunities to exhibit, including participation in their 125th and 126th Anniversary Exhibitions in New York. I am a proud member of the Art Students League of New York, and have enjoyed working with extraordinarly talented instructors, Mary Beth McKenzie, Ronnie Landfield, James McIndoe, Terrence Coyle and currently, Margaret McCall.
The possibilities for expression, whatever the visual medium—acrylic, oil, watercolor—never cease to amaze me. My greatest passion is finding the ever changing vitality in my subject, whether an individual or a landscape, through the brush. My work is representational but suggestive, bordering on a reality that is subjective—even at times residing on the edge of abstraction—but , above all, immediate.
I was born in Bakersfield, California where hot sun-filled hours were a daily reality. Though I’ve loved the kinetic rhythms of New York City where I’ve resided for the last several decades, the color and vibrancy of warm climates continue to fascinate me and this is often reflected in the subjects I choose to paint.
The artistic muse can take many forms and I’ve always tried to be open to all its aspects—drawing and painting were my first love from school days, then theatre, writing, and photography followed. Through travel, I’ve discovered how captivating a new perspective can be to an artist’s eyes. Keeping a camera always at the ready for the unexpected can be a great source of inspiration when back home again.
I also derive inspiration from visits to museums and galleries, refreshing my eyes with the works of new and old masters of the visual arts. This exposure not only helps my own approach to the canvas but is expressed through my ongoing reviews and articles on the arts and the culture at large.
In the last few years, I have had both solo and group exhibits in Connecticut and upstate New York and was elected to membership in the National Association of Women Artists (N.A.W.A.) in 2014. This has afforded me several opportunities to exhibit, including participation in their 125th and 126th Anniversary Exhibitions in New York. I am a proud member of the Art Students League of New York, and have enjoyed working with extraordinarly talented instructors, Mary Beth McKenzie, Ronnie Landfield, James McIndoe, Terrence Coyle and currently, Margaret McCall.
The possibilities for expression, whatever the visual medium—acrylic, oil, watercolor—never cease to amaze me. My greatest passion is finding the ever changing vitality in my subject, whether an individual or a landscape, through the brush. My work is representational but suggestive, bordering on a reality that is subjective—even at times residing on the edge of abstraction—but , above all, immediate.
Group and Solo Exhibits:
FAR + WIDE, National exhibit, Woodstock Art Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY, June 16-July 15, 2018
EV(e)olution VIII: Migration, a juried exhibition, Riverside Library, New York, NY, March 2-31, 2018
Celebrate Women! In Honor of Women's History Month, N.A.W.A. Gallery, March 1-28, 2018
SHELTER, a juried exhibition, Harlem School of the Arts, March 1-31, 2018
Open Horizons, a juried exhibition for N.A.W.A. Members, County College of Morris (CCM) Art & Design Gallery, January 29-30, 2018
Change: An Exhibition of Art by Members of N.A.W.A., Emerge Gallery, Saugerties, NY, October 7-30, 2017
N.A.W.A. (National Association of Women Artists) 127th Annual, August 22-September 14, 2017
The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY
Art Angels, October 5-26, 2017, N.A.W.A. Gallery, New York, NY
Away!, Mulberry Street Library, New York, NY, (juried) July 1-September 7, 2017
Expressive Women of N.A.W.A., Ridgefield Library, Ridgefield, CT, March 2-30, 2017
N.A.W.A. EV(e)OLUTION VII, A juried exhibition, Riverside Library, March, 2017
SHELTER (Harlem School of the Arts & N.A.W.A. with Violence Transformed, (juried) December 1-January 3, 2017
Art Angels (...And Some Devils, Too), October 6-23, 2016, N.A.W.A. Gallery, New York, NY
N.A.W.A. (National Association of Women Artists) 126th Annual, Fall 2016
The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY
N.A.W.A. (National Association of Women Artists) Renaissance Women, a three-month show, exhibit and panels,
March1-May 31, 2016, sponsored by the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund
N.A.W.A. EV(e)OLUTION VI -- BOLD!, Riverside Library, New York Public Library, (juried) March, 2016
N.A.W.A. (National Association of Women Artists) 125th Anniversary Annual, Fall 2015
The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY, Oct. 2014
The Small Works Exhibition, N.A.W.A. Gallery, New York, NY, Spring 2015
N.A.W.A. (National Association of Women Artists) 125th Anniversary Annual, Fall 2014,
The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, New York, NY, Oct. 2014
The Small Works Exhibition, N.A.W.A. Gallery, New York, NY, Spring, 2014
The Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center, Kingston, NY.
Solo exhibit of still life paintings and landscapes, main hall; summer, 2012. Curator: Marcuse Pfeiffer
Seti Gallery, Kent, CT. (2012-2013). Opening group exhibit (Arista Baltronis, Director.)