I was born in the Bronx, New York. I began drawing and painting since I was six years old; I fell in love with materials, colors, pencils and paint. After graduating from the High School of Music and Art, I scoped out opportunities in the city to study with various mentors: I learned anatomy at The Art Students’ League with Robert Beverly Hale. Although this was in 1971, his famous lessons stay with me throughout my figurative painting career. I went to the Philadelphia College of Art, and the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture in the mid-seventies. At the Studio School I studied with the expressionist painter, George McNeil, also a lasting influence.Afterwards, I worked as an assistant to artists Mary Frank, and Nell Blaine.I feel fortunate to have had these opportunities to work closely with such influential artists. I know that the intense connection I feel to my work partially has roots in these relationships to other more senior artists in my past.
Although I have worked with ceramic
and stained glass mediums, I have always favored paint, especially oil paint.
I have enjoyed residencies in the Women’s Studio Workshop, the Cummington
Art Community, and Mishkenot Arts Center in Jerusalem. My recent “Shoprite”
series was part of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s “Creating In
Brooklyn” series. In 2001, I received a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council,
commissioning the completion of this body of work. An interview on this series
exhibited in several Brooklyn venues was aired on Brooklyn cable television,
both in 2001. My work was also featured as part of the Smithsonian Institute’s
tour, “Three Brooklyn Artists”. In addition, my paintings have been
shown in numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums in NYC, and surrounding
areas.
I live and work in Flatbush, Brooklyn.