I have always been an artist! Some earliest memories are of recording my surroundings with whatever marking tool I could get my hands on! While being raised in a large family on Narragansett Bay, I managed to slip away and find quiet places to draw and paint. As a teen, I spent summers studying art at RISD. In High School, I was fascinated watching my Commercial Art Teacher, Mr. Jim Corrigan, use a lettering quill to practice the art of hand lettering. Butera School of Art in Boston was where I chose to spend two years learning the many facets of the art of sign painting. Upon graduating in the early 80’s, the trade took me in many different directions. Working in a variety sign companies, I learned alongside the finest of craftsmen between 1979 through 2000. There were not many women in the field during those years and I was dubbed a pioneer by a manager at the MBTA where I worked before changing priorities. Art and career was put on hold while raising my two creative sons, Ian and Aidan, who have always encouraged me to paint.
In 2013, The opportunity arose to open ‘The Fresh Palette’ Painting Studio, at the Audubon Society of RI’s Nature Center on the Parker Woodland Wildlife Refuge. Currently, the studio is at the Maxwell Mays Wildlife Refuge in Coventry, RI. where I continue my work on site, seasonally, April through November.
The Warwick Center for the Arts, www.warwickcfa.org is where I spend teaching time every Thursday with our Arts Access Class where Adults with Special Needs meet each week to create together. I also share my love of watercolor painting every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. I’ve also had the privilege of facilitating a variety of art workshops and watercolor painting classes for youth and adults at libraries throughout the state of RI.
Memberships:
Providence Art Club; Exhibiting Artist Member https://providenceartclub.org/
Artist Cooperative Gallery of Westerly; Juried Artist Member www.westerlyarts.com
Warwick Center for the Arts; Teaching Artist Member www.warwickcfa.org
East Greenwich Art Club. Planning Coordinator, 2018, 2019 www.eastgreenwichartclub.org
Warwick Center for the Arts; Warwick Museum; Board of Directors, 1992-1996, 2016-2020
Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Wickford Art Association; Artist Member
IBPAT; International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades. Member, Local 391 1983-1995
AWARDS:
Artists Cooperative Gallery of Westerly. RI; Viewers Choice Award; ‘Into the Mist’ June, 2019
Wickford Art Association “Art of the Ocean State” Jurors Award; ‘Perfect Storm’ July, 2020;
RI Art Educators Annual Exhibit; 2021 Warwick Center for the Arts; Honorable Mention: ‘Still Life With Apples’
Warwick Center for the Arts; Members Show; 2022 Viewers Choice Award: ’Marina at Ninigret’
Warwick Center for the Arts; Curator, Angel Beth Smith; ‘The Girls’ 2023, 3rd Place; ‘Windswept Dreams’
Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, RI; 33rd Annual Fakes and Forgeries, 2024 ‘Most Authentic Award’ After Andrew Wyeth, ‘Wind From the Sea”
Currently pursuing Certification in Painting Studies at Rhode Island School of Design; Providence, RI