About me
I am a second year teacher who for almost 30 years worked in the decorative finishing trades climbing scaffolds and ladders and wearing out the only physical form I was born with. Two and a half years ago I decided a change was necessary. So I went back to school and received my teaching certificate in June of 2022. The following is a little history about myself. In 1993 I received my Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa with an emphasis on painting and drawing and scenery painting for theater. For more than 25 years after that I operated a small decorative finishing and mural painting business. But throughout those years I continued to paint in my studio with a focus primarily on narrative portraiture. My preferred medium is oil on canvas or panel, though much of my work also incorporates mixed media. Many of the decorative finishing techniques I used as a contractor I still use in some of my artwork today, in particular marbling, faux stone, faux wood grain, and trompe l'oeil.
Additionally, for more than a decade now I have been involved in local arts organizing. Since 2011 I have been a commissioner on the West Chicago Cultural Arts Commission, of which I am the vice-chairperson. Last year I became a board member of People Made Visible, an arts and community organizing non-profit that works with other entities to bring cultural experiences to disadvantaged communities. I also worked as a teaching-artist for Chicago Artists Partnership in Education. Arts advocacy is very important to me, as is art education. Integrating the two is one of my near term objectives, especially as it concerns exhibiting student work to a larger public audience, and bringing authentic arts and cultural experiences to the students that unite students and community in a common cause.
