Painting for me has been the culmination of years of art exploration, teaching, and artistic
influences. I've never really had to pursue my passion because I've lived it all my life artsy kid,
career art educator, and now full-time painter. Although I've been making art since childhood, it was
my career as an art teacher that prepared me with the skills needed to become a professional artist.
Teaching art required experimentation with various techniques and mediums in addition to
incorporating art history and art appreciation into my lessons. And being an administrator gave me the
organizational skills needed to make decisions and manage my career as an artist. Regarding artistic
influences, well mine include Motherwell, Sargent, Matisse, and Diebenkorn, to name just a few. And
although not so typical to my current genre, many of these great influences, whether abstract or realist,
helped me to understand the processes and artistic principles common to all visual art production.
However, it was my mentor and good friend, the late Nick Caivano, a student of Oscar Kokoshka and
Ivan Mestrovic that encouraged me the most with his guidance and direction.
I began my professional career as an artist, while simultaneously teaching art - a great
combination. Teaching and working with many local artists for so many years has been priceless.
Although I started as a printmaker, eventually I decided to experiment with painting and my printing
press gave way to the easel. I've been working exclusively in oils since the late 90?s, seizing every
opportunity to paint ³en plein air² (in the open air). Trying to catch a moment in time and working
outdoors makes the experience challenging, exciting, and spontaneous. Getting the right composition,
values, and color notes on site, continues to be exciting and challenging - it's the best exercise in
maintaining the integrity of the subject matter in the studio. I'm constantly challenged by the changing
light and often find myself painting the same subject matter at different times of day and different times
of the year.
I've had many successes in my career as an artist that have given me the opportunity to paint
throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. But, as a life-long Jersey shore resident, I'm never at
a loss for subject matter.
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Awards, Honors
First Place Award, Bayonet Farm Arts and Music Festival Ninth Open Juried Art Show 2012
Giovanni Martino, NA Award for Landscape in Oils, Audubon Artists 68th Nat Juried Show at the
Salmagundi Club, NYC 2010
Permanent collection of Georgian Court University, Lakewood, NJ
MCAC 30th Open Juried Show - Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, New Jersey - Honorable
Mention - Oil 2009
August Mosca Memorial Award in Oils, Audubon Artists 66th
Nat Juried Show at the Salmagundi Club, NYC |
