Artist Statement
I am an artist and gardener.
Born in Queens, living in Amagansett, NY, I am third generation of Italian and Polish immigrants who valued their tiny, urban garden plots of flowers and vegetables.
Their plant-filled gardens are vivid memories and established my relationship to the natural world; the color and scent of dianthus in grandma’s garden, tomatoes planted in sauce cans in grandpa’s yard, and my mom’s cherished yellow rose.
I dig dirt. Being in nature is my self-care. I need the outdoors. We all do.
The natural world is my place of worship. My felt experiences are channeled into my artwork that honors the beauty and awe of my garden, a garden, a place or a plant I have deeply examined. A landscape painting is devotional to a place in nature.
Plants, flowers and insects appear in paintings in odd, oversized or tightly cropped ways to emphasize a fantastic detail or their importance in the ecosystem. A 6-foot tall figurative dandelion painting calls out the plant's beauty and essential role for pollinators. A zoomed in view of a rose flower is color-rich, rhythmic and abstract. Paintings are born from an idea or I let color shapes lead the painting into being.
Plant symbolism in art and history fuel elements in my paintings of reimagined plants and landscapes. Thistles symbolize resilience. Some consider it a weed yet, it is food for birds and bugs. Symbolically, irises say wisdom. Bees are messengers of the gods. Mother Nature is Gaia. Dianthus is love.
Research from scientists, ethnobotanists and indigenous people validate the physical, mental, medicinal benefits of plants. My series of hands with plants delivers on the fact that we humans are neurological wired to be one with nature.
I use oils, acrylics, gouache, pastels and pencils. Canvas, fabric, paper or wood are the painting surfaces. Surface, scale, brushes, and paint type affect how my hand delivers intuited shapes and marks that flick and move at different speeds creating a visual journey through the composition. Color layers build depth and saturation. A large wood triptych is painted with physicality and bold marks. A painting on fabric feels free and ethereal. Paint blurs on burlap and the image is abstracted.
I offer my work as a moment to consider the vital role of plants, celebrate their beauty, awe and purpose in our intertwined ecosystem. Future subjects in my work will be disrupted by the impact of drought, chemical pollutants, pollinator loss, animal species and food crop decline.
My memories of plants, places they exist and family gardens will remain.
