Biography
I am a visual artist working in mixed media acrylic painting and photography. I love to hike and travel and have lived on three continents. I am also a Ph.D. chemist, who studies the interaction of carbon dioxide with transition metals, and professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.
Artist Statement
I am interested in creating images of places where I feel a sense of wonder and peace. For many years, I have photographed such places all over the world, but more recently I have also begun to create mixed-media artwork with a similar goal. These works begin with fragments of photographs. By incorporating textural elements created with acrylic paint, mosaic tile, and found objects, I am exploring beyond the constraint of photographic representation. Some pieces interpret a single real-world location using photographic and painted elements. Some pieces are imagined landscapes, inspired by a specific area (like a national park) that have been synthesized from photographs of multiple locations. Other pieces are surrealistic landscapes created from fragments of disparate photos that are joined together with improvisational painting. In all these paintings, I am interested in interpreting real and imagined places using the transition from the photographic to the painted image to allow me explore the spirit of a place in multiple ways.
My work, both scientific and artistic, is inspired by my interest in exploring the reality found beneath the surface of the material world. As a chemist, I have been trained to gain new understanding of the world by investigating the microscopic building blocks that underpin the macroscopic world, using many tools and techniques. Observing the world constantly invites me to ask questions and then investigate with the hope of new discovery. New discovery then leads to further inquiry and investigation. In the laboratory, we call this the scientific method, but I see it as an inherently artistic process. As a scientist and as an artist, I often find myself creating simplified models of reality to help illustrate the complex nature of the world. The places that transcend simple explanation for me– that impart peace or wonder, invite me to look closer with a desire to deepen my understanding and perhaps even discover new meaning.