I create abstracted landscapes through painting imagined places with color, light, and shape. An artist for more than thirty years, I mix my artistic skill and intentions with chance by using aerosol paints and wet inks as well as brush painting with oil or watercolor paint. Inspiration comes from specific places, but the work does not represent any one place or view; rather, it is a sense of the places I know well, fictitiously portrayed. Prairie horizons as well as ascending urban mountain views are pieced together in harmonious and contrasting colored shapes. During a six week residency at the Shiro Oni Studio in Japan, I was influenced by the mountainous landscape and the different painting materials available. Sections of Japanese newspaper were collaged in the paintings creating blocks of shape and texture of information. While living in Barcelona Spain for five months, I was inspired by the layered shapes of buildings stretching from the mountain of Tibidabo to the sea, the Mediterranean light, and vivid colors of the city. My body of work exhibits an ambitious, fluid, and meticulous artist’s path.

I earned an MFA in studio art from Illinois State University in 1990. I reside in Bloomington, Illinois near Chicago.

Solo Exhibitions

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2016

Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, Illinois – 2014

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe Gallery, Bloomington, Illinois – 2014

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe , Bloomington, Illinois – 2012

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe , Bloomington, Illinois – 2011

Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, Illinois – 2010

Kelly’s Bakery Cafe , Bloomington, Illinois – 2009

IAA Gallery, Bloomington, Illinois – 2008

Kettering Art Center, Kettering, Ohio – 1991

Four Seasons Art Center, Springfield, Illinois – 1991

Peoria Art Guild, Peoria, Illinois – 1991

Four Seasons Art Center, Springfield, Illinois – 1990

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 1990

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 1988

Two-Person Exhibitions

Quad Cities Art Center, Davenport, Iowa – 1994 (with painter Susan Maakestad)

Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois – 1993 (with ceramicist Rob Reedy)

Residencies and Painting Trips

Eixample near the Arc de Triomf, Barcelona, Spain – Winter 2017 – Summer 2018

Shiro Oni Studio Artist Residency Program, Onishi, Japan – Summer 2016

Domaine du Haut Baran near Puy-l’Eveque, France –  2014, 2012, 2010 (2 weeks each)

Group Exhibitions

Springfield Art Association Collective, Springfield, Illinois – 2017

Kanna Fall Arts Festival, Onishi, Japan – 2016

Shiro Oni Studio Exhibit, Onishi, Japan – 2016

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2016

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2013

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 2013

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 2010

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2009

Prairie Art Alliance, Springfield, Illinois – 2009

Prairie Art Alliance, Springfield, Illinois – 2008

Window on Windsor, Springfield, Illinois – 2008

McLean County Art Center, Bloomington, Illinois – 2007

Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois – 1994

Three Rivers Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1994

Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang and Beijing, People’s Republic of China – 1991

Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey – 1990

Kemper Group Invitational Exhibition, Long Grove, Illinois – 1989

Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois – 1989

Parkland College, Champaign, Illinois – 1989

Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois – 1989

Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana – 1988

Elgin Community College, Elgin, Illinois – 1988

Harper College, Palatine, Illinois – 1987

Permanent Collections

Arizona State University

Bradley University

Illinois State University

Illinois Wesleyan University

Ohio State University

University of Dallas

University of Massachusetts

University of South Dakota

Education

Master of Fine Art (M.F.A.), Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois – 1990

Teaching

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (Art and Community Development) – 2010 – 2013

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (Corporate Training in Web Technologies) – 2000 – 2004

Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois (Basic Drawing, Figure Drawing, 2D Design, Web Design) – 1991 – 1997

Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois (Basic Drawing) – 1989 – 1990