Bio
> I am a painter and sometimes a printmaker.
> Born in Georgia, I grew up in Maryland, went to school in Virginia, spent thirty plus years in Southern California and now live in Florida.
> By happenstance, my career path took me into typesetting and from there into design and creative communication — the graphic arts. Along the way I began painting in watercolor, studying where I could — at night, privately, and at universities, art schools, and community colleges. In California I was exposed to the California “School” of watercolorists, past and present as well as to the Bay Area Figurative painters — amazing artists all — whose ideas make me think and inform my work. And here too I began painting en plain air in the legendary light of Southern California.
> After managing an in-house creative department for many years I retuned to and earned a degree in Studio Art from the University of Mary Washington. There I was awarded a scholarship to paint in France which allowed me to attend a summer semester at the Marchutz School of Fine Art in Aix-en-Provence, a transformative experience. Part of the whole experience was discovering that I like printmaking as well as painting, and painting in oil too— and being exposed to ideas that shaped me in new ways.
> My painting medium of choice is watercolor. I just like the way the paint handles, its fluid-ness and the way the transparent plays against the opaque and the happy accidents that sometimes happen along the way.
Statement
In my work I use suggestion and impression to describe time and place. I am interested in how line and marks, color and gesture, along with variations in the visual perception of the paper can create a unified whole from which individual elements emerge to express something real and essential. The resulting images capture passing moments and spaces glimpsed, sometimes minimally, always recognizable. They are grace notes speaking to time and place. They are indicated realities evoking recognition. They deal with the commonplace, with the blurred line between ordinary and extraordinary, and with that which lies beyond the superficial. They deal with the transient and well-remembered moments in life.
This thought from Van Gogh captures what I am reaching for:
“It comes down to seizing what does not pass away in what passes away.”
“Il s’agit de saisir ce qui ne passe pas dans ce qui passe.”
Résumé
Selected Exhibitions
» Allied Artists of America, Associates Online Exhibition, 2022–2023 (online)
» 13th Biennial National Art Exhibition, Punta Gorda, FL, 2022
» California Watercolor Association, 52nd National Exhibition, Pleasonton, CA, 2022
» Arizona Aqueous, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, AZ, 2007, 2011, 2018, 2021
» Allied Artists of America, New York, 2020–21 (online)
» Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD, Strokes of Genius, 2017, 2018; Small Wonders, 2016, 2017, 2020; Art on Paper 2017, 2018, 2022; American Landscapes 2020, Annapolis, MD
» Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Annual Open Juried Exhibitions, National Arts Club, NY, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020
» Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, DNSPE, Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University Jonesboro, AR, 2019, 2020
» Art Center Sarasota, Juried Exhibitions (various titles), 2019 – 2022Sarasota, FL 2020
» Art Center Sarasota, Art and Vision Member’s Exhibition, 2020 (online)
» Florida Watercolor Society Creative Confine Challenge, 2020 (online)
» Florida Watercolor Society Juried Members Exhibition, 2020 (online)
» Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Annual Members Show, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 (online), 2018, 2019 (online), 2020 (online), 2021
» Annual Best of Ringing College Continuing Studies Juried Exhibition, Ringling College of Art and Design, Wilis Smith Gallery, Sarasota, FL, 2020
» Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society (FSWS) Open Aqueous Exhibitions, Englewood, FL 2018, Bradenton, FL 2019, 2020, 2022
» New Orleans Art Association, 2019 National Exhibition, New Orleans Art Center, New Orleans, LA, 2019
» Maryland Federation of Art Thaler Gallery, Ocean City, MD, 2019
» Southern California Inspirations, Past and President, Oceanside Museum of Art and the National Watercolor Society Exhibition, Oceanside, CA, 2018–2019
» Salmagundi Club Open Printmaking Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, 2018
» Maryland Federation of Art Curve Gallery, Online, Stormy Weather, 2018
» Artist Alliance at the Museum, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA, 2017
» New Orleans Art Association 2017 National Exhibition, New Orleans Academy of Fine Art, New Orleans, LA, 2017
» Laumeister FIne Arts Competition, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT, 2010, 2016
» International Small Image China Exchange Exhibit, National Watercolor Society, Shenzhen, China (and other venues) 2015–16, San Pedro, CA 2016
» Elayne LaPorta Fine Arts Holiday Art Exhibition, solo exhibition, Henderson, NV 2015
» 9th Annual Keystone National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2015
» 6" Squared, Randy Higbee Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA 2015
» Into the Light: Plein Air Invitational, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA 2015
» Drawn-In 2, Q Art Salon, Santa Ana, CA 2015
» Annual Made in California Juried Exhibitions, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA, 2014, 2015
» Annual Statewide Landscape Exhibitions, Santa Cruz, CA 2011, 2012, 2015
» Less is More: Small Works in a Great Space, The Mitchell Gallery at St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD, 2013, 2014
» San Diego Watercolor Society Annual International Exhibitions, San Diego, CA, 2011, 2014
» National Midyear Exhibitions, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH, 2009, 2013
» 8th Biennial National Art Exhibition, Punta Gorda, FL, 2012
» Plein Air Invitational Exhibition: In the Light of Day, City of Brea Art Gallery, Brea, CA, 2011
» Blossoms II, Art of Flowers, Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL, 2011
» National Watercolor Society (NWS) Annual Exhibition, San Pedro, CA, 2010; Traveling Exhibition, 2011
» Brushes with Friendship, Nottingham Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA, 2010
» Huntington Beach Plein Air Painting Festival, Huntington Beach, CA, 2007 – 2010
» Belles of Capistrano, Four Women and Their Art, Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA 2008
» Painting the California Landscape, Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA, 2007, 2008
» Palm Springs Art Museum 38th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Palm Springs, CA, 2007
» Plein Air 2005, 2006, Keyes Gallery, Springfield, MO, 2005, 2006
Selected Awards / Honors / Grants / Publications
» Who’s Who in American Art
» Second Place, WCA (Women Contemporary Artists) Annual Spring Exhibition, Sarasota, Florida, 2022
» Excellence Award, 13th Biennial National Art Exhibition, Punta Gorda, Florida 2022
» Honorable Mention, Arizona Aqueous XXXV, Tubac Center of the Arts, Tubac, Arizona, 2021
» Honorable Mention, Maryland Federation of Art, Small Wonders, 2020
» First Place, Art Center Sarasota, Art and Vision Member’s Exhibition, 2020 (online)
» Honorable Mention, Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society, Annual Open Aqueous Show, Art Center Manatee, 2020
» Honorable Mention, Signature Membership, Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society, Annual Open Aqueous Show, Art Center Manatee, 2019
» Contributor to “A Table in Tholonet”, The Marchutz Tapes — Reflections on Art, Leo Marchutz Catalogue Raisonné website, 2019
» Katharine A Lovell Memorial Award, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Annual Open Exhibition, 2018
» Past President's Merit Award, New Orleans Art Association, 2017
» Second Place Watermedia, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club Members Exhibition, 2013
» Included in Aubade, University of Mary Washington bi-annual art and literature review, 2013
» Research Grants, University of Mary Washington, Painting 2012, Printmaking 2013
» Rosalie Chauncey Memorial Scholarship in Studio Art, University of Mary Washington, 2012
» Merit Award, 8th Biennial National Art Exhibition, Punta Gorda, Florida 2012
» Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, Signature Membership, 2011
» National Watercolor Society Signature Membership, 2010
» Honorable Mention, Plein Air Festival 2008, 2007, Huntington Beach, CA
» Second Place, Plein Air 2006, Keyes Gallery
» Best in Show, Plein Air Painting Festival, 2002 Jeff Horn, juror
» Mentioned in “A Soulful Workshop”, Watercolor Magazine, 2000
» Third Place, The Artist Eye, Costa Mesa, CA 2001 Timothy J. Clark, Juror
» Second Place, Newport Beach Salute to the Arts, 1993 Jean Stern, juror
Design
» Book Design: Daryl Bryant, A Life in Art, monograph, 2012; Susan Sommer, Plein Air Abstraction, 2010; Susan Sommer, Progression, 2015; Susan Sommer, An Awakening in the Jungle, 2020; Art Marketing Handbook, 7th edition, Calvin Goodman; miscellaneous memoirs, stories, poetry
» Personal documentation (books): Grace Notes, Finding Beauty, 2011; Grace Notes, Indicated Realities, 2014; Grace Notes, Looking at Nature, 2015
» Marketing Communications Manager for international technical company Melles Griot
» Miscellaneous brochures and invitations for artists and exhibitions
Education
» Museum Study Seminars, Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing, Washington, D.C. 2024, Philadelphia, PA 2023
» Painting Workshops, Leo Marchutz School of Painting and Drawing, Aix-en-Province/Venice 2023, Venice 2024
» University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA (Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art), 2013
» The Marchutz School of Fine Art, Aix-en-Provence, France 2013
» Advanced study in Italy, Argentina, France, Hawaii and California, Art Students League NYC with Timothy J. Clark
» Art Center College of Design, (Harry Carmean, Vern Wilson), Pasadena, CA
» University of Maryland