The Creative Process Using Mixed-Media Collage. . .

My Mixed-Media Collage Journey began over 30 years ago when I was in an MFA program at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Graduate school had me so stressed out that, ironically, I couldn’t paint. Everything I painted looked so bad that one day in complete frustration I tore up one of my failing paintings and threw it on the floor. To my complete astonishment, I looked down and saw that the pieces looked fabulous all flung together and lying on top of one another. I realized that sometimes you just have to change your perspective and orientation to perceive and create.. And my process of tossing random pieces together became closely related to the process of the I Ching, where one receives answers to questions by tossing yarrow stalks or coins as a means of communing with the universal.

I am an American contemporary artist working primarily with mixed media. My paintings and collages juxtapose diverse images of fragmentation inviting the viewer to reconstruct meaning through fluctuating recognition and realization. The viewer’s own personal perceptions transform the meaning seen in the unified whole.

I think of creating this work as though I am sifting through an archeological dig of the subconscious mind, moving through layer upon layer of earth. Barely recognizable forms emerge from the surface of the paintings into a conscious gestalt where meanings are meant to galvanize through the viewer’s own personal references and connections.

Movement through brushwork, markings and layered, open passages lead the viewer on a journey of discovery, enabling the creation of a myriad of associations and insights. Through observing the relationships of applied materials to a surface, layers of seemingly random associations can merge into realization, recognition, and insight.

My materials often include Sumi e Ink, Calligraphy brushes, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, and a variety of papers including Japanese rice paper. Check out my most recent work with Nano Art here.