About the Artist

A Work in Progress

     A deep appreciation of the flow of abstract line, form and color motivates me in my journey as an artist.  I have created my own artistic style, Dynamic Symbolism, painting with pastels, charcoal and acrylics. My technique uses stream of consciousness guided by intuition to connect scattered forms and colors into cohesive works of art.  I have no preconceived plan or sketch for a painting, so the audience must address the content of my art rather than try to interpret my intentions.  My paintings allow viewers creative freedom to interact with the art and form their own borders for concrete images.  Each viewer can find different symbols, and everyone's vision is valid. The symbols that people see are dynamic and overlapping.   Every viewing of the art contains the possibility of seeing something new.

     When new viewers first encounter Dynamic Symbolism, they frequently discover images in my paintings that I had never seen before, but recognize when they point them out. My art inspires different interpretations across a variety of cultures.  After years of pen and pencil sketching, I created "Fate of the Animals Continued", 1983, a colorful pastel painting named after the artwork of Franz Marc.  In it, a Chinese graduate student in Religious Studies at Stanford saw mystical Tibetan cave paintings, and a man from Trinidad saw Carnival masks. That same painting suggested apocalyptic images to a Christian, where a dancer saw choreography.

   The charcoal drawing, "Dancing with Swift Shields", was completed in 1997.  I had displayed this drawing for years in tribute to friends who had died of cancer, and in it I saw a crab shell and claws emanating from the center.  Then, recently, at an art show an East Indian woman pointed out a perfect elephant's head in the center.  Elephants are part of my childhood memories from when my family lived in South Africa and toured the game reserves. However, it took a woman from India to see it first in my painting. Hindus revere the elephant as Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles.  Another person, who owned a saltwater fish tank, outlined a triggerfish using the same lines that form the elephant.  Many people interact with Dynamic Symbolism in this way and see what they are accustomed to seeing.

     Painting sales will allow me to continue what I believe to be important and groundbreaking artwork.  Dynamic Symbolism presents a creative way of seeing and processing information. Fragmentary images from nature and humanity that flow through my art reflect our contemporary consciousness in a new and startling way. People today begin to understand that nature, humans, the earth, air and oceans are all interconnected. We realize that our collective actions have consequences beyond what we can recognize.  Our connection to the wild and to our instincts shrinks along with the fragments of open space that are left. Yet, people still look for answers.  I seek my solutions through Art.  I believe that the artist's foremost obligation is to encourage evolution in consciousness.  We are the guides that can reflect and transform the Zeitgeist.