Abstract Encounters: becoming an artist
My career as an artist started later in life. Like so many, art seemed impractical. Looking back, I wish I had been a little more impractical.
I come from a family of accomplished and professional artists. My mom’s family is Sicilian, and a passion for the arts is embedded in their Italian DNA. The opera, classical art and architecture, history, a deep love of family, and enlightenment through both science and religious worship was part of my upbringing and education. My mother introduced me to Aristotle and Plato, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, as well as many other great thinkers of the past when I was quite young. I remember the first time I read Aristotle. She had printed out some pages for me from a book she was reading so I could mark them up with notes. It was magical. My mother would often share with me what she was currently reading and researching, I would read it, and we would discuss. It was exhilarating for my very questioning nature to digest philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, history, and symbolism at such a young age. At the time, I had no idea how rare it was to have a mother so interested in life and learning, and so willing to share her passion in such a personal way with her children.
You’d think being surrounded by artists would make the decision to become an artist easier. Actually, it was quite intimidating. Not because there wasn’t encouragement, but because I think in abstractions and my family was much more literal. Becoming an abstract artist has been as much about coming into my own, as it’s been a development in the skill of painting.
Today’s art practice is in preparation for a new series. Really, my sketchbook is about loosening up what is stuck. Painting creates a kind of atmosphere of communion. As I paint, thoughts come into focus. I don't paint emotion, emotions find me while I'm painting. I paint atmosphere. The painting itself is simply the record or trace of an encounter, an artifact of communion.
