This video, “Studio Tour” is something prepared for Jansen Art Center - around 2020. Dates are elusive during the pandemic. It may have been 2021. It’s a blur. The video was never published by Jansen, but it captures my work space. It made me wonder, when did I start painting in earnest? I know it was after my dad died in 2010 as his paints, easel and brushes ended up in my storage. By 2015 I was sending painting images to friends in New Mexico, Chuck Volz and Clarence Medina. They provided guidance. Sadly, Chuck and Clarence have passed - but their impact on others, as kind and talented men, is profound. I am fortunate to have known them.

By 2016, I sought instruction. I started with a workshop with Seattle painter, Mitch Albala at the Coupeville Arts Center. In February 2017 I studied with Mary Giammarino in Oaxaca Mexico. I really can’t say enough about that wonderful experience. A trip to Taos came later in 2017, providing study with the remarkable Bill Gallen, Dave Ballew and Cecilia Robertson. My final workshop was with Colley Whisson at the Winslow Art Center on Bainbridge Island. These workshops were fortified by the impact of informal studies - observations in museums, videos on painters’ websites, and the like. There are many options out there and endless inspiration. I share these details to underscore how instruction is cobbled together and, inevitably, is rich and varied.

WHY NEW YORK CITY?

The videos here include scenes from NYC. I took my first solo trip there in 2018. I wanted to discover this iconic city and reset something within myself that I could not name. I went looking for renewal. NYC accommodated me in ways I am still absorbing. I got my NY state RN license and in 2019, spent over 3 weeks in the city giving flu shots at a variety of work sites. I learned to use the subway system and experienced the back rooms of work places throughout the city. Due to the pandemic, I did not return until I was vaccinated. I returned in April 2021 to give covid vaccines (in health clinics in Spanish Harlem, Jackson Heights, and under the blue whale at the Museum of Natural History). I met wonderful people - and shared relief that there were finally steps to take to combat the pandemic. It was affecting to see NYC during the pandemic - empty and subdued. Broadway was deserted. Museums were closed. Hearts were heavy. Covid testing centers were scattered in makeshift trailers throughout the boroughs. I returned to NY in the fall of 2021 for more covid vaccinations - the city was waking up from its shut down state. By fall 2022, the only shots to do were flu shots — thankfully. I actually run into nurses I know when I’m there - perplexing when one considers the immensity of the city’s population. I made a couple of forever friends as a result of these travels - a true gift at any age. Isn’t life full of surprises? I plan to visit every year, circumstances permitting. I’ll time the trip with the “Feast of St. Francis” at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine - an extraordinary ceremony honoring animals (footage below).

I’m smitten with NYC to this day. A fact that perplexes my husband, born and raised in New Jersey, in a suburb of the city. His experience of NYC in the 1980s - gritty and rough - was a far cry from the NY one finds today. He has had his share of great days in NYC now - infected by my affection for the city.

The city’s presence is a force of vibrancy in my psyche - just like painting. They are partners in renewal for me. Some people go to the mountains. I go to the subway and Arthur Avenue.