About

I seek to understand the nature of beauty as seen in the wild landscape of Mother Earth and her infinite abundance.

There is a deep beauty in the overgrowth of nature, in plant life growing wildly up together; cacti and grasses and wildflowers and creosote all seem so desperately on top of each other, yet there is balance and perfection and a shared source of unity, the earth. Understanding this interconnectedness and shared single source of existence, of consciousness, is the journey I embark on in my creating process. I want to understand the unity of these elements and express the totality of the feeling of being immersed in the abundant and unending flow of life.

With still-life, I have the opportunity to arrange the subject myself, giving me insight into relationships between all organic matter. I carefully select and arrange a variety of organic shapes, colors, and textures to recreate in an arrangement the feeling of interconnected abundance; how different shapes and colors speak to each other in a new way when side by side. In landscapes and nature studies, I have the opportunity to explore nature as it presents itself and express its impression on me through color and mark-making. I am exploring the very heart of beauty, the unrepeatable flow of nature. It is seen in the breaking open of the sky when it rains, the mountain grasses in the wind, the grounding earth-red boulders, or the light bouncing off and through a lemon tree.

I am in love with the pounding vital life force energy that is vibrating all around us and at the same time through us and within us, with an infinite rhythm that leaves you still.

Education

2020 Workshop with Derek Penix

2013 Bachelor in Fine Arts, Arizona State University

Select Exhibitions

2022 Step Gallery, “Home,” Phoenix, AZ

2022 Gallery Mar Carmel, “Abundance”, solo show, Carmel, California

2021 The Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ

2020 The Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ

2019 9 The Gallery, “Small Works Show,” Phoenix, AZ

2019 The Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ

2018 The Marshall Gallery, “Artworks for Charity,” Scottsdale AZ

2017 The Marshall Gallery, “Artworks for Charity,” Scottsdale AZ

2012 Gallery 100, “Surface” Tempe, AZ

2011 Virginia G. Piper Performing Arts Center, “Phoenix One,” Phoenix, AZ

2011 The Artist’s Studio at The Farm at South Mountain, “Spirit and Song,” Phoenix, AZ

Publications and Media

“Featured Artist”, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, online, December 2021

“Beauty, The Intuition of Truth.” Virtue Magazine. March 2019. Issue 003 “Beauty, The Intuition of Truth.” Virtue Magazine. March 2019. Issue 003

“Studio Session.” Phoenix Magazine. Vol. 54 No. 10, October 2019. p 46

“Art and Life.” Voyage Magazine. June 26, 2018

Teaching

2016-current Private lessons and workshops

2012-2018 Art Teacher @ Great Hearts Academies

2015 Bargue drawing workshop @ Great Hearts Academies

2014 Portrait drawing workshop @ Great Hearts Academies