Art School Portfolios (and Beyond) 1997-1983
Learning Curves: Every twenty year-old believes he is a genius; and were it not for this fact, I would not have made some much incomprehensible work. Still, there is nothing to compare to this quixotic time in my life.
In the following pages, autobiographical background is supplied on my development as an artist in college: first as a BFA candidate at The University of Memphis and then as a MFA candidate at Indiana University. I also discuss the postpartum separation I experienced after art school ended.
Portfolio 1: Mostly Figurative, Portfolio 2: Modernist-Inspired, Portfolio 3: Transitional, Portfolio 4: Graduate School 1, Portfolio 5: Graduate School 2, Portfolio 6: Beyond Art School, Portfolio 7: The Wilderness
Sketchbooks 2023-2006
Odds and Ends: My fault as an artist is that I have not cultivated mystery so well. Dali said he was never a great artist because he was too intelligent, by which he meant he was too intellectually curious about too many things to slave over the finer points of his profession. I wear a good many hats as a creator, and though I have a style, I am too distracted by the possibilities to be a strict adherent to it.
At the very least one can cultivate a genius for silence. Archeologists pore over Vermeer’s handful of paintings and insert their own narratives into his life where few concrete details are available. I, on the other hand, explain too much, and take all the fun out of it. If I had a doppelgänger, his job would be to present himself as a closed book to the world.
I say all this before including this section of sketchbook ideas, commission work, and whatnot. The first page also includes examples from art books I made prior to starting painting classes in art school. Last Update: 2/21/24