The artist with David Shimotakahara, Executive Artistic Director, Groundworks DanceTheatre at Suite 215 Gallery Third Friday, October 2022.
The artist with Sylvester Stallone during Art at the Arnold Painting Competition, March 2008.
“He who binds to himself a joy, does the winged life destroy;
He who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in eternity's sunrise.”
(William Blake)
Dance expresses an incredible sense of life and movement. Observing and drawing from dance has been a focus of my art for over 49 years, and has evolved many styles and iterations. Capturing the gesture and pose of human movement is challenging. Freezing the body’s form to capture its essence with just a few abstract lines is an art in itself. The human form is never still but in a continuous state of motion. My paintings are not unlike a calculus of form in time and space, a calligraphy, or fluid hieroglyphics. Color, texture and layering appropriate a cultural artifact of movementand expression.
I see in human movement a reflection of unique identity. I have always been fascinated with figurative movement, from watching dancing teenagers on first dates in the 1960s to the strobe-filled world of disco with the colorful, highlighted outlines of couples. Humanity is a dance to the death, and I try to capture life’s color and movement by capturing the odd angles and juxtapositions I see in life. Through paint and composition in two dimensions I attempt to create an abstracted world of human energy and andromorphic meaning. The results are asemic calligraphy driven by figurative gesture of beauty, grace, strength, balance, and rhythm.
I find joy in painting with music, with the steady beats of rock n roll, the harmonies of folk, the rhythms and improvisations of jazz, and the
power of soul, and music provides a steady background to working. The impulses that direct my work comes from years of sketching from dancers, from ballet to contemporary modern dance.
My latest works evolve from a 2022 workshop with Groundworks Dance Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. I studied rehearsals and performances by the dancers, whose innovative moves inspired even more free flowing calligraphy and further development of the body languages I work
with. Combined with the dancers/marks, my works synthesize time/place, rhythmic form, and visual energy. I hope these artworks inspire viewers to feel the full juxtaposition of life, music, and dance as I
“catch the joy as it flies.”
Education
1976 Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, Painting)
2006 The Ohio State University (MA, Art Education)
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
Suite 215, 78th Street Studios, Cleveland, OH
ArtFair14C, Jersey City, NJ
2019
Lancaster Festival, Lancaster, Ohio
2015
Wilkes Gallery, Ohio University-Lancaster, Lancaster, OH
2014
Ohio Arts Council, Spotlight: Featured Artists at the Ohio Governor's Residence, Bexley, OH
Garret Gallery, Lancaster, OH
2008
Lancaster Festival, Garret Gallery, Lancaster, OH
2005
Textillery Gallery, Bloomington, IN
Turkaly Art Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2004
Studio B, Columbus, OH
2002
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
2001
Wilkes Gallery, Ohio University-Lancaster, Lancaster, OH
2000
The Arts Castle, Delaware Arts Council, Delaware, OH
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
Garret Gallery, Lancaster, OH
1999
Mt. Vernon Nazarene College Art Gallery, Mt. Vernon, OH
Hoyt Institute of Fine Art, New Castle, PA
1998
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
1997
Northwood Gallery, Midland, MI
1996
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
1995
Pump House Gallery, Chillicothe, OH
Metropolis Gallery, "Gesture and Identities," Seattle, WA
1994
Lancaster Festival, "New Visions," Lancaster, OH
1993
Lancaster Festival, "Small Works," Lancaster, OH
Ohio State University, "Figures In Motion," Columbus, OH
1992
Garret Gallery, "Motion Pictures," Lancaster, OH
Lancaster Festival, "Playing Fields," Lancaster, OH
1975
Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
52nd Annual Gates Mills Art Show, Gates Mills, OH
Stella's Art Gallery, "In Honor of Women'" Willoughby, OH
19th Annual Bryn Du Show, Granville, OH
Worthington Yards, "Foot Squared," Cleveland, OH
Artful Cleveland, "Community of Artists Exhibition," Cleveland Heights, OH
Stella's Art Gallery, "Black and White'" Willoughby, OH
2022
18th Annual Bryn Du Art Show, Granville, OH
Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Columbus, OH
44th Annual Robert Thurmer Peoples Art Exhibition, Cleveland State University Galleries, Cleveland, OH
Stella's Art Gallery. "Bricolage," Willoughby, OH
Mayfield Fall Art Show, Mayfield Village Public Library, Mayfield, OH
2021
San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center, “Models in Motion,” Encino, CA
Ohio Art League, Spring Juried Exhibition, Online Exhibition, Columbus, OH
2020
Valley Art Center, 49th Fall Exhibition, Chagrin Falls, OH
2019
Ohio Art League, Fall Exhibition, Columbus Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH
Ohio Art League, Spring Exhibition, Artspace, Denison University, Newark, OH
2018
Ohio Art League, Fall Exhibition, Shot Tower, Fort Hayes MEC, Columbus, OH
2017
Ohio University Art Gallery, “State of the Arts: Celebrating High School Art Educators,” Athens, OH
Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Columbus, OH
2016
Ohio University Art Gallery, “State of the Arts: Celebrating High School Art Educators,” Athens, OH
Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Columbus, OH
2015
Ohio University Art Gallery, “State of the Arts: Celebrating High School Art Educators,” Athens, OH
2013
Mason Muher Gallery, “Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Regional Finalist Exhibition,” Atlanta, GA
2012
Gallery M. Collections, Granville, OH
2010
Columbus Convention Center, "Art At The Arnold" Juried Competition, Columbus, OH
Gallery M. Collections, Granville, OH
Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, Lancaster, OH
2009
Columbus Convention Center, "Art At The Arnold" Juried Competition, Columbus, OH
Columbus Museum of Art, "Remembering Russell" Juried Plein Air Competition, Columbus, OH
2008
Ohio Arts Council Online Visual Artist Registry Annual Juried Show, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH
2005
Studio at Gallery B, Lancaster, OH
2004
National Exhibition, Contemporary Artists Center, North Adams, MA
2003
Acme Art Company, Columbus, OH
Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Columbus, OH
2002
National Exhibition, Center For The Visual Arts, Wausau, WI
Exit Art, "Reactions," New York, NY
Art and Clay Gallery, Lancaster, OH
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
2001
Buckham Gallery, "Out of Line: Element and Essence," Flint, MI
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
Art and Clay Gallery, Lancaster, OH
2000
Art and Clay Gallery, Lancaster, OH
Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
1999
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
1998
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
Buckham Gallery, "Gesture/Pattern/Line," Flint, MI
Northwood Gallery, "Swimming Pools," Midland, MI
1997
Mesa Art Center, "Coming Home," Mesa, AZ
Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH
Art Center of Northern New Jersey, New Milford, NJ
Buckham Gallery, Regional Exhibition, "Genius Of Place," Flint, MI
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
1996
Cincinnati Art On The Square, Cincinnati, OH
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
1995
Yeiser Art Center, "Paducah '95," Paducah, KY
Trumbull Art Gallery, Warren, OH
Lanning Gallery, Columbus, OH
ARTLINK, "Painting '95," Fort Wayne, IN
Gallery V, Columbus, OH
1994
Huntington Museum of Art, "Works On Walls: 280," Huntington, WV
Gallery V, Columbus, OH
Fall Exhibition For The Columbus Art League, Columbus, OH
1993
Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL
Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL
Fort Hayes School For the Visual Arts, Columbus, OH
Ambrosia Gallery, Columbus, OH
Galerie Especial, Columbus, OH
1992
Ambrosia Gallery, Columbus, OH
Acme Art Co., Columbus, OH
1991
Roberta Kuhn Gallery, Columbus, OH
Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Columbus, OH
1978
Columbus Museum of Art, "Columbus Art League May Show," Columbus, OH
1976
Columbus Museum of Art, "Columbus Art League May Show," Columbus, OH
1975
Newport Art Association, Newport, RI
Roger Williams College, "Southeastern New England Painting Festival," Bristol, RI