BIOGRAPHY

In the Beginning

At 15, while visiting my father in New York City, my step-mother took me to her Art History class at Columbia University. I sat for one hour enthralled and amazed by the color of the Post-Impressionist slide show. I was hooked.

At 17, I begged my father to let me study art in Spain through the San Francisco State University study abroad program. I flew to Madrid in the summer of 1969. Having just one year of high school Spanish and having to make my way to Valencia on the Costa del Sol from Madrid, I began my journey into the world of art.

I enrolled in the sculpture program. My teacher was one of the best sculptors in Valencia and had statues throughout the city. He gave instruction at the University of Valencia art school and would take us to his studio and the local museums weekly. I will never forget his repeating the words while he chopped and cut with hand motions, "geometria, geometria, siempre geometria." This was my first introduction to the importance and necessity of geometry and the underlying structure. Later, while falling in love with Cezanne's paintings, particularly his work after 1885, I saw just how important geometrical scaffolding is.

No matter how chaotic or energetic the surface, there is an underlying structure in all things,. I am always paying attention to "geometria," even when I am wild and vigorous with my brush strokes.

When I returned to Columbia University as a graduate student in New York City, my passion for art was rekindled. I took classes at the Arts Students League and tore into the museums of the greatest art city in the world.