Artist Statement, June, 2007
My paintings are a visual connection to my love for the turns and tricks of language. I think about rhythm and color and how art can offer an image of glory or pain, harmony or strangeness. I like to take a walk in my paintings and conjure up a piece of nature, the beginnings of a visual story and a thread of connection between my path and yours. You might notice a sense of gesture, a quick stroke that is inherent to my own energy.
I work toward a sense of transparency, adding layers of paint for a visual texture and subtracting paint by rubbing it off with a cloth. You may have noticed that I let the paint ‘float’ and sometimes drip. . At the beginning, the painting and I are partners, sometimes I take the lead but most of the time the painting leads me and tells its own story.
About me…
I am a studio artist and educator, exhibiting my oil paintings at galleries and art festivals during the year. Since the summer of 2000 I teach a workshop called ‘The Visual Journal’ that I developed for Eastern Michigan University. It takes place for one week each August at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan. I also teach the workshop for Wayne State University’s Art Therapy Dept. and Center for Creative Studies Continuing Education Dept. in Detroit, MI. Recently, I have been working with community organizations to help people develop an expressive relationship with art that already exists within.
I am an Adjunct Professor at Eastern Michigan University having received an M.F.A. in Painting in 1994.
Education
1991-1994 Masters of Fine Arts in Painting, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
1985-1989 Coursework, Fine Arts, Eastern Michigan University
1974 Bachelor of Science Degree in Education, Wayne State University, Detroit
Studies
2004 fall Poetry with Christine Hume, Eastern Michigan University
2002 fall Figure study, UM, open studio
1998, summer Figure study with Mingshi Huang, painter, summer
1997, May 3-week Drawing Workshop, EMU in Paris
1995, May 3-week Intaglio Printing Workshop, Regatta Studio, Florence, Italy
1980, June 2-week Photography Workshop, Maine Photographic Workshop, Rockport, Maine
1975-1985 Independent studies in photography
Professional Experience
Studio Painter since 1994, exhibiting in Galleries and Art Festivals nationally
Developed and currently teaching a one-week course each August: The Visual Journal, since 2000 for Eastern Michigan University Art Department/ Continuing Education, Ypsilanti, MI
Adjunct Professor, Wayne State University Art Therapy Department, Detroit, MI teaching a two-day Visual Journal course, October 13/14, 2006
Lecturer, Ann Arbor Women Artists, teaching a two-day Visual Journal course, November 4/5, 2006
Adjunct Lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI since 1998 teaching foundation courses that include Intro to Art, 2-D Design, Drawing 1, Drawing 2, and Life Drawing
Adjunct Asst. Professor at University of Michigan Art & Design, Ann Arbor, MI 2003-04 teaching
Painting 1 and Painting 2
Interim Asst. Professor at Adrian College, Adrian, MI, Adrian, MI, 1996-97, teaching Photography,
2-D Design, Drawing 1, and Drawing 2
Photographer and co-owner of Precision Photographics, Professional Photographic Lab, Ann Arbor, MI, 1975-1997
Assistant Coordinator, Food Gatherers, a non-profit perishable and non-perishable Food Program, Ann Arbor, MI, 1997-98
Publisher of Entry, a monthly photographic newsletter listing information on Juried Exhibitions, lectures, and galleries. 1984-85
Publisher of Photoworks, a quarterly photographic journal of interviews of recognized
photographers. 1981-84
Honors
Pending: Public Art 9/11 Memorial Sculpture, UM Shapiro Library
By Jens Zorn, Sculptor, inscribed poem by Nancy Wolfe, 2007
Painting of “17” on Street Banners, Ann Arbor State Street Artfair, 2006
Painting of ‘bath oil’ on Jazzfest poster, October 2002, Ann Arbor, MI
Boston Mills Art Festival, Akron, Ohio, 2nd prize overall, 2000
Eastern Michigan University, King Calkins Award and Best of Show, 1992
Graduate School Purchase Award for artistic excellence, 1991
Gallery Affiliation
2003-current Artsearch, T’Marra Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2001-current Toledo Museum of Art Gallery Store
1997-current Ann Arbor Art Center, Corporate Gallery
1993-1994 Gallery 414, Ann Arbor
1982-1994 William Pelletier Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
Lectures
Lecture on my work to Ann Arbor Women Artists, October 17, 2005
Panel discussion, “Creativity, Women in the Arts”, July 22, 2005 at the Ann Arbor Library.
Exhibitions
2006 Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, July/August
2005 Pfizer Research and Development, Ann Arbor, MI May, June
2005 Café Zolas, Ann Arbor, MI, August, September
2004 Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI, September
2003 Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI, October
2002 Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor MI, September
2002 Visual Arts, 2 person exhibit, Minneapolis, Minn
2002 Pfizer Research and Development, Ann Arbor, MI., March
2001 Michigan Guild Gallery, one-person exhibit, November
2000 Kerrytown Concert House, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1999 Ann Arbor Art Center, Juried exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1998 Michigan Guild, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1998 Washtenaw Community College, group exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1998 Kerrytown Concert House, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1997 The Harver Gifts Room, Workbench Furniture, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor,
1997 Ella Sharp Museum, group exhibit, Jackson, MI
1996 University of Michigan Power Center, Ann Arbor Summer Festival
1996 Washtenaw Women’s City Club, Ann Arbor, MI
1996 Michigan Artists Design, by invitation, Ann Arbor, MI
1996 Janice Charach Epstein Museum Gallery, two-person exhibit, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Art Festivals
2006 Atlanta Dogwood Festival, April, May
2006 Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair, July
2006 Boca Raton Art Festival, January
2005 Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, July
2005 Evanston, Il Artfair June
2004 Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, July
2002 Coconut Grove, FL, February
2001 Birmingham, Bloomfield Art Festival, May
2001 Bruce Museum Art Festival, Greenwich Conn.October
2001 Old Town Chicago Illinois Art Festival, June
Reviews
July 2005 Art Showcase Magazine Review, summer 2004, page 32, Ann Arbor, MI
May 18, 2003 Cleveland’s Plain Dealer Newspaper, (K8) photo and caption
July 13, 2003 Ann Arbor News article ‘But still the one’, Ann Arbor Art Fair, E1
July 15, 2002 Ann Arbor News Cover Photo and caption, Section 5
January, 2002 Dialogue, Voicing the Arts Review, Ohio publication, Jan/Feb, p. 48
November 11, 2001 Ann Arbor News. Showcase, D1
January, 2000 Michigan Bar Journal Cover, Painting, “Reluctantly”,
January 2000, Volume, 79, no. 1
January 1,1999 Ann Arbor News Review, by John Carlos Cantu, D1
June, 1995 Detroit Monthly Magazine, full page display
December 15, 1994 Ann Arbor News Review by John Carlos Cantu,
February 10, 1994 Ann Arbor News Review by John Carlos Cantu,
January 19, 1992 Ann Arbor News Review by John Carlos Cantu, F6
1992 Stow Davis Nines, 1992 Brochure, Grand Rapids, MI
