“Let the Fragments of experience float around our unconscious mind in order to click into new combinations” Maria Papova

I experience painting as a series of internal explosions, a constant rumble of internal collisions. A dream, an event, an encounter, a scene, or a memory tumble into my internal visual cauldron. Ideas swirl around until a catalyst causes them to coalesce, compelling me to bridge the gap between mind and physical art.

As a painter, I strive to create meaning with disparate ideas, emotions, colors, and shapes onto a rectangular surface. Sometimes ideas run parallel to each other, creating more than one amalgamation to pursue in the studio. I prioritize what is most important to explore, both visually and emotionally. Images and personal symbols are added and subtracted or moved around on the canvas until the visual narrative emerges and the painting feels right.

In this exhibit I explore ideas that may seem visually unrelated. However, the catalyst— the coming together of the ideas that create the paintings — are very much the same energy. In my horse paintings, I observe the relationship of horses and riders to their environment and in relation to each other. I seek to create a narrative that invites the viewer to enter the riding arena or the landscape and feel the world of the horses and riders in their surroundings. I strive to create an atmosphere, an alternate world that transcends daily life.The paintings in Catalyst include human figures populating a city street or an imaginative historical scene. The narrative including the human figures is similar to the horse paintings: they portray my ongoing interest in the relationship of the figures to each other and to their world. Of special interest to me is emotional connectivity and its opposite, isolation and alienation. These ideas continue to fascinate me, interest me, and engage me.

Art elevates, excites, and provokes us to reflect about ourselves and how we experience life with others and with the beings sharing our world. I invite you to imagine walking into the setting of the paintings you see, wander around and experience your own emotional reactions.