Current Works 2022-23
California Light and Space to Irish Skies
My formative years as an artist on California’s southern coast affected me, as it did many artists of my generation. West Coast colors are crisp and bright, they glimmer in the blazing sun, and are accentuated by the industrial manufacturing materials and tools developed in this region. Art movements such as Light & Space, Finish Fetish, Minimal Art, and the particular version of costal and mountain Plein Aire painting are all native to Southern California. Inspired by the idea of exotic paint colors and alternatives to canvas, I explored metal and plastic surfaces in an effort to find a way to communicate my aesthetic vision. Architecture, in particular modernist architecture influenced my work, and photography as a source of documenting the architectural fragments worked their way into my collages. Placing contrasting or complimentary images in compositions, and on surfaces that juxtaposed the elements, suited my practice of art making. I eventually morphed some of these ideas into hybrid of compositions; a postmodern strategy of trying to make sense of the environment in which I lived and its quality of light. Being encircled by beaches and mountains heightened my awareness that nature was a source of richness and inspiration in my life.
Years of teaching in Europe allowed me to travel often to my ancestral homeland of Ireland. Ireland captured me from the moment I first arrived. Perhaps it was genetic memory, the feeling of finding my true home as all of my ancestors hail from the island. After decades of traveling as a visitor throughout Ireland, I obtained my Irish citizenship and purchased a home and studio in Rosscarbery, West Cork. To split my time between CA and West Cork is a blessing, and a deep source of inspiration for my artwork.
My recent task has been to grapple with how to pair my process of art making and its aesthetic with the influences of Ireland. The challenge is to consider the differing quality of light and the natural environment. The colors in Ireland are no less crisp and full, just different. The intensity of the sky, whether it is blue or gray, has a depth informed by the presence or absence of the sun. The greens, often poeticized, are many and varied. Can I say that the color in Ireland is more natural? It’s certainly more organic, less influenced by industry and architecture. This translates into using materials in my Irish studio that are more organic as well. Wood and stone are the elements that will feature in my process and practice. Working in both places means there is a dialogue not only between the environments and the lifestyles, but with the aesthetics of the cultures as well. To explore the layers of these relationships is a journey I approach with anticipation.
Variations on the Circle
Table Top Towers
Works on Paper and Collages
