ARTIFACTS of MEMORY

In June of 2018, I had the privilege of attending the Women’s Art Institute Summer Studio Intensive at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was a transformative experience which helped me out of a creative rut and sparked a new body of work based on memories of personal experiences throughout my life, rendered in oil paintings.

Drawing on random, vivid memories from my life, I create large-scale paintings using psychologically compelling narratives that are slices of twentieth century life with a surreal, “film noir” quality. By sharing my stories in these painterly oil paintings using vivid colors and a dramatic, moody ambience, I hope to draw the viewer in by creating archetypal spaces that resonate with their own experiences.

These pieces tend to bring on an emotional reaction that is different for each person. The stories can be interpreted many ways, and I am fascinated and often surprised by the responses people have to them. I also love the challenge of working strictly from memory, constructing visually cohesive compositions by trusting my skills as an artist, designer, and storyteller. It is an indescribable experience to access my younger self and delve into her feelings, reactions, and distinctive perspective on the world she inhabited.

After the Funeral

36 x 48 Oil on canvas
The first funeral I attended was my great-grandfather’s While the adults visited afterwards, I sat on the floor drawing a crayon picture of the dead man in his coffin.

Choosing Sides

20 x 44 oil on canvas
I was always the last one picked for the team every day in gym class. This humiliating experience was a daily occurrence in grade school.

Anger

48 x 36 oil on canvas
My seven-year-old self was quite angry about something during a trip to Florida, and my parents took a snapshot of the moment so they could laugh about my anger for years to come.

Flying Across the Morning

12 x 24 oil on canvas
On a recent fishing vacation in Ontario, my boyfriend and I were heading out onto the lake one morning, when I looked up and saw a whole flock of seagulls keeping pace with our boat.

Junior High School

24 X 12 Oil on canvas
In seventh grade, a creepy boy kept bothering me. When I ignored him, he got so mad he broke a wooden ruler over my head. I calmly picked up my books and walked away, to the amusement of the other children around. He never bothered me again.

Loyal Friend

20 x 16 oil on canvas
The hair-washing ritual was terrifying to me as a 3-year-old child. My mother was unnecessarily rough and always seemed angry when she did it. My cat, Suzy, would climb on the chair behind me to offer support.

Braving the Storm

16 x 20 oil on canvas
When I was about 10 years old, I was gravely ill with the flu. This was before there were 24-hour pharmacies, and my father drove across town in a blizzard to get medicine for me at a hospital.

Awaiting Judgment

36 x 42 oil on canvas
The ritual of waiting back stage to be called out for my event at a West Coast Swing dance competition is incredibly scary.

His Last $1.49

48 x 42 oil on canvas
My boyfriend Jerry rode his bike to the store one day to buy himself a treat with the last of his spending money. When he dropped and broke the jar on the way home, it broke his heart as well. And mine, every time I think of the story.

Place of Refuge

48 x 48 oil on canvas
My grandmother thought that my cat sleeping on top of me would make my legs crooked, so she chased poor Suzy with a broom. We later found the terrified cat hiding in the root cellar, directly underneath the bedroom where I was staying.

Mix Tape

16 x 20 oil on canvas
As a pre-teen, I spent many evenings taping my favorite songs off the radio with my cassette tape recorder.

Moonhead

48 x 60 oil on canvas
My earliest memory is of waking in my crib to the sight of my older sister who had fallen out of bed. I remember thinking what a big head she had, lying there in the moonlight.

Smokescreen

24 x 30 Oil on canvas
father’s evening ritual of sitting in his chair in front of the TV with a cocktail, surrounded by a cloud of cigarette smoke. He was there and he wasn't.

The Cotton Candy Misunderstanding

30 x 24 oil on canvas
On a trip to the zoo, I asked for a cone of cotton candy. I was thrilled to be getting it, but was distracted by the interesting sight of potato chips hanging from a nearby awning. My mother misunderstood and angrily threw my cotton candy in the trash, then bought me the chips instead.

Summer Evening at the Cabin

56 x 34 oil on canvas
A sweet memory of my grandmother reading a story to my sister and me in the old wooden swing on the shore of Lake Osakis in Minnesota.

Sanctuary

24 x 30 oil on canvas
As a child I often found refuge in a pile of library books and a bag of Doritos.

The Mixer

20 x 16 oil on canvas
A happy childhood memory is of watching my mother mix up peanut butter cookie dough using her sturdy kitchen mixer.

Two O'Clock Blues

48 x 48 oil on canvas
I have spent decades of my life in gray corporate cubicles, staring at the clock, which seems to slow down to a crawl right around two o’clock every day.

Tornado Warning

24 x 36 oil on canvas
Driving back to our lake cabin after a trip into town, my mother and sister and I got caught in a very severe storm. When we finally made it back, my dad was waiting anxiously at the door.

They All Laughed

24 x 30 oil on canvas
On my turn up to bat for kickball, I stepped on the ball, falling down hard and starting to cry. It caused a lot of laughter from my classmates.

Unseen Companion

10 x 36 oil on canvas
A walk around my neighborhood left an uneasy feeling when a dog I thought I saw walking with a passer-by suddenly disappeared.

Three O'Clock

36 x 36 oil on canvas
doesn’t remember the joyful feeling of getting off the bus at the end of the school day?