Photographs are mirrors for our culture and ourselves.  They document our society.

I collect old photographs and choose figures from them for my paintings.  The photographs are records of the lives of strangers, yet familiar images to all of us.  The photographs remind us of ourselves, our families, and our issues on both personal and cultural levels.

The figures in my paintings are presented on a surface that is rich and textured-many layers of paint that reveal the history of the canvas and create a shallow space that serves to isolate the modeled form of each figure.  The elements of my paintings are applied in layers, much like dressing the paper cutout dolls I used to play with.  I often use a decorative, repeated pattern which serves to confuse or flatten an area, or to suggest a less finite dimension.

Sometimes I paint figures without heads because a face can become distracting.  I find these images accessible to more people.  They are anyone.  Without the face, the painting becomes about the gesture-the hands-and how the children react to having their photograph taken.  The gesture communicates.

My subjects have been disconnected from their original context and are recreated as icons for the viewer's personal connection.  Each viewer brings their own specific personal history, so a single image can mean different things to different people.  The figures exist in situations-or as objects-in which I hope the viewer will find a little of themselves.