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Biography

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My first sale as an artist was in my junior year of high school when I sold a life-size ceramic head of Richard Nixon to my school's athletic director. It was for his dad.  In college, I created an entire sculptural body of work with human figures, but my primary focus was watercolor paintings, and my mentor, Rod Crossman, was very influential.

After graduating from college, I began to sell my paintings at art fairs and galleries around the Midwest. This allowed me to see what other professionals were doing and it gave me the chance to learn from other artists that were also trying to make a living through art sales. In 2005, after several years of teaching, I went back to college to work on my MA in studio art with a focus in drawing/painting at Ball State University. During this time I was a graduate assistant and worked with classes in drawing, painting and art education. 

At Ball State I discovered a new purpose for creating, and my work took a different direction.  I expressed myself by creating an autobiographical story through drawings and paintings, while my work took on cartoon characteristics as I was being influenced by the work of Red Grooms.

In 2006 I was awarded a grant from Ball State University to create an art installation of a larger than life, polychrome sculptural environment using characters from the works that were created during the fall semester.  This grant allowed me the funding needed to create large sculptural work again. These works became a part of my thesis show and I revived an interest which had laid dormant during the first semester.

After I received my Master of Arts, I continued to teacher art (7th-12th grade) until returning to college to work on my MFA at Indiana State University in 2010. My work became more life-like and my content more ethereal. Giacometti was one of the artists that I looked to at that time.

Recently, the focus of my visual art has been sculptural figures with narrative. I create basic figures from twisted newspaper, wire and paper clay. Other materials that I use to create surface textures include; twine, sand, burlap, crushed egg shells, and marble dust mixed with acrylic paint,  Distorting the proportions of limbs, torsos and heads play a role in helping me create special expressive effects with my work.

My goal is to create works charged with content that I care about - ideas that I really want to express and create, based on the context of my view and what I've experienced and enjoy as a visual artist from Indiana in the twenty first century.

This past year I was a part of the Religion, Spirituality, and the Arts of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute. We created art based on a particular text from the Old Testament. I really enjoyed doing this. My current body of work is a continuation and expansion of themes from the Old Testament.

In 2024 I've won some international awards for my sculptures, including 3rd place in Fusion Art’s 8th Annual Black and White International Online Art Exhibition, https://www.fusionartps.com/8th-annual-black-white-art-exhibition-april-2024/  2nd Place in  Light, Space and Time’s Annual Special Summer Exhibit “2024 - 5 for $10, https://lightspacetime.art/2024-summer-5-for-10-art-exhibition/, and 1st Place in Light, Space and Time’s 6th Annual Primary Colors International Online Art Exhibition. https://lightspacetime.art/primary-colors-art-exhibition-july-2024/

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