Exploring the Concept of Edge through Abstract Mixed Media Art

My work explores the concepts of EDGE and EDGE EFFECT, created intuitively in the moment but rooted in the subconscious past and the uncertain future.  

• EDGE is the discernible line between objects, expectations, and experiences. Some edges are static, creating seemingly insurmountable boundaries and preventing growth, but edges can break and life changes suddenly and often dramatically. EDGE embodies tension and yearning, but also seismic force, vigor, and keenness. 

• Where two edges meet, their characteristics merge, creating a place or time of exceptional creativity and diversity. This is known as the EDGE EFFECT in biology, but I recognize the same effect in art achieved by letting go of expectations, experimenting, and seeking an inherent equilibrium. 

Look for the edges in my compositions. Juxtaposition of color, pattern, and texture. Edges that meet sharply at points or divide a space into distinct areas. Look for suppressed motion, released energy, a sense of turmoil, and ultimately a peculiar balance between past and future, upheaval and subsidence, center and periphery. 

None of my work is pre-conceived. I have no intentions, inspiration, or goals. My process begins with shifting through my supply of found and created papers, gathering a few that interest me for no particular reason, laying out 4-6 substrates, then just playing with composition, adding layers, paints, and marks guided by a sense of what might work, until I feel as if the pieces are done.

The work on this website is loosely organized by year and theme. Not all the work here is or will be for sale, although interested parties are welcome to inquire. Much of the work is intended to show my creative process and simply to be of interest.

Philanthropy

All net proceeds from the sale of my work will be donated to non-profit organizations supporting food security efforts, organic and regenerative agriculture, and environmental protection.

Biography

I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 1978, with a major in studio art, studying with Nathan Oliviera and Frank Lobdell, both associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the mid-19th century.

I also have a Master of Arts degree in Interior Design from Marymount University in Arlington, VA (2008) and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of California at Davis (1978).

Although I enjoyed various crafts over the years, I didn’t make art per se because I’d learned somewhere during my early education that art had to be “good” to be worth even trying. Then, in 2018 I took a class called “Experimental Drawing” taught by Pamela Lanza, a San Francisco artist who’d just moved to my home town. Something sparked. I began to create. And create and create. The results are, in part, shown on this website.

Some of my works are for sale at Trackside Studios in Asheville, NC.