About the Artist
Although my undergraduate degree was in painting (BA from George Washington University in 1963), and I subsequently studied and painted in France for a year, my working life was spent at the World Bank, where I enjoyed a variety of professional positions devoted to international development in Asia and Africa. Despite my enjoyment of that work, I decided to take an early retirement in 1995 in order to return full time to my art.
As an undergraduate, I had studied with Edmund Archer, a celebrated Richmond portraitist, and that was the focus of my early work. When I returned to my art in 1995, I studied with William Woodward, also a well-known and gifted oil painter. With his encouragement, I pushed myself beyond traditional portraits, although still primarily focused on people, but utilizing color and design to tell stories about their lives and interests. In this I have also been particularly influenced by the work of Edgar Degas whom I greatly admire.
After Prof. Woodward's retirement from teaching in 2003, I studied both water color painting and sculpture, and eventually settled in the ceramics department at GWU, under the supervision of Turker Ozdogan, an experienced ceramic artist. There I sculpt figures and portrait busts from stoneware clay, which is then fired. My subjects are diverse, drawn in part from my extensive travels and my love of the visual and performing arts.
People often ask me how I choose my subjects. The first criteria - if they are known to me - is that I particularly admire them and their life's work. The second criteria - and the main one if they are not well-known individuals - is that something about their appearance struck me as being especially well-suited to being rendered in three dimensions.
I also continue to paint, of course. My painting studio is at the Jackson Art Center, a cooperative of about 40 artists in Washington, DC, which holds Open Studios twice a year. While I do accept commissions, it is the pleasure of the work itself which inspires me to continue.
As an undergraduate, I had studied with Edmund Archer, a celebrated Richmond portraitist, and that was the focus of my early work. When I returned to my art in 1995, I studied with William Woodward, also a well-known and gifted oil painter. With his encouragement, I pushed myself beyond traditional portraits, although still primarily focused on people, but utilizing color and design to tell stories about their lives and interests. In this I have also been particularly influenced by the work of Edgar Degas whom I greatly admire.
After Prof. Woodward's retirement from teaching in 2003, I studied both water color painting and sculpture, and eventually settled in the ceramics department at GWU, under the supervision of Turker Ozdogan, an experienced ceramic artist. There I sculpt figures and portrait busts from stoneware clay, which is then fired. My subjects are diverse, drawn in part from my extensive travels and my love of the visual and performing arts.
People often ask me how I choose my subjects. The first criteria - if they are known to me - is that I particularly admire them and their life's work. The second criteria - and the main one if they are not well-known individuals - is that something about their appearance struck me as being especially well-suited to being rendered in three dimensions.
I also continue to paint, of course. My painting studio is at the Jackson Art Center, a cooperative of about 40 artists in Washington, DC, which holds Open Studios twice a year. While I do accept commissions, it is the pleasure of the work itself which inspires me to continue.