My
experience...
By being an expressive dancer for as long as I can remember, then a masseuse
and workshop leader at Esalen, I developed an intrinsic and and tactile
knowledge of anatomy and movement that has served me well as I have worked
with clay and bronze figurative sculpture the past sixteen years. More
recently, when painting, I apply my sculptural skills, along with a love
of color, to the canvas.
My sculptural inspiration...
I was struck by the mood in the sculptures of Claudel and Rodin, the physical
expressiveness of Richard MacDonald, the sensitivity and grace of Bruce
Wolfe, the use of line and balance in the dramatic sculptures of Fritz
White, and the texture, color and composition of Manuel Neri. By allowing
those that have inspired me to speak through me, I have been able to create
something uniquely my own.
My teachers...
I learned classical French sculpture from Marianne Groh in Santa Cruz,
and a New York School figurative technique from Martine Vaugel in the
Loire Valley, France.
At the Scottsdale Artist School, Richard MacDonald helped me find my own
sense of expressiveness, and Stanley Bleifeld helped me develop a textural
sense. Fritz White, at the Loveland Academy of Art, taught me how to make
my sculpture dynamic.
My co workers...
Karl Reichley is a creative and talented patina artist in Oakland who
has been enhancing my sculptures during my whole career. Sean Monaghan,
who runs Bronzeworks Foundry here in Santa Cruz has been doing my mold
making and casting for many years.
My gratefulness...
I am honored to have been shown in galleries throughout the US for the
past fifteen years, and to have my work in private collections throughout
the world.
My Hawaiian Hula Series found inspiration in my love of the Hawaiian culture,
and my studies in Hawaiian Shamanism with Hank Wesselman and Jill Kuykendall.
They were taught and inspired by the late Kahu Hale Kealohalani Makua.
Those bronzes are honoring the beauty and aloha of the people, and especially
the dance of prayer, called hula.
Continuing exploration...
While continuing to sculpt, I have recently become engrossed in learning
abstract expressionist figurative painting. Some that I find inspiration
through are Chagall, Roualt, Diebenkorn, and O'Farrell. The interplay
between sculpting and painting has given each a dynamic new energy.
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