RISD

At RISD I felt born again. I learned the history of art, elements and principles of design, how to use materials and conceptualize. I made countless studies of my fellow students, anatomy, nature, live models and old masters. I explored hundreds of different subjects and styles in Providence and during my senior-year Honors Program in Rome - and travels beyond. I had wanted to be Norman Rockwell, but I fell in love with the abstract expressionists and changed my major from illustration to painting. I have few examples of my paintings because many were incomplete studies or were given away. My decades obsession with Willem de Kooning, Pablo Picasso and finally RISD professor Robert Hamilton’s improvisation emerged after RISD. I matured into a colorist after reconnecting with Hamilton 25 years later in Maine.