How I Learned to Make Art...

My Work History

My Experience

I was born with a crayon in my hand. I cannot remember a time when I was not called “artist”.

I drew pictures compulsively throughout my youth. My parents were very supportive and made every effort to put me in positions where I could learn as much as possible about whatever medium I found interesting. I was twelve when I joined my first formal art class. It was a course in ceramics at Spirit Square in Charlotte , NC . I had more formal training when I was in high school at West Charlotte . I owe a debt of gratitude to Evelyn Van Hecke for providing a clear and comprehensive course in the mechanics of drawing from life, and for the opportunity to try many more media. Batik, ceramics, and mixed media collages are among the more memorable lessons. I won a few awards in high school art competitions. I sold my first piece when I was sixteen. After graduating high school I spent one year working part time and taking more drawing and ceramics classes at the local community college in Charlotte .

It naturally followed that I should pursue my passion for creating into a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program. I attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond , VA , from 1990 to 1994 and graduated with honors. My college studies were four of the most fulfilling years of my life. The school had fully equipped studios for any media I could dream of trying. In my four years at VCU I studied; drawing, oil painting, lithography, design, metal smithing, jewelry making, wood working, and mixed media sculpture.

After graduating from VCU, I moved back to North Carolina and strove to find a way to use my manual skills to earn a living, but it wasn’t until I moved to Boston in Oct. 2000 that I found a large and vibrant community that offered limitless networking opportunities and access to a market that could support the sales of $3,000 sculptures. I joined the East Boston Artist’s Group and opened a studio in East Boston . I lived successfully off of my artwork through back to back commissions for a few months in 2002. It was just enough of a taste of the business for me to discover how much I disliked it. The combination of placing deadlines on my creativity along with basing my living on meeting those deadlines was incredibly stressful... more importantly, it took all the joy out of the act of creating. I decided then that I would find another way to earn a living and let my artwork be the soul-feeding activity it had always been for me.