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Biographical and Artistic Statement:
I am not young. I don’t have an MFA. I don’t have any formal training in art, photography or Photoshop. But, as time allowed, making art has played a role in my life for the past 40 years. In the 1970s, before changing careers, I freelanced for publications and hospitals to support my artistic work. I was one of three photographers exhibiting at the grand opening of Chicago’s Cultural Center. I also served as an artist-in-residence in Chicago. For years, my work was on exhibit in Chicago’s City Hall. After changing careers, my energy went largely to peace, environmental and community empowerment movements. Most recently, I spent nearly two decades as director of a coalition of Chicago community organizations working for safer neighborhoods and a democratic version of community policing. Having retired several years ago, I have more time for photography and making photomontages. In the last few years, I started showing in New Haven. I have had solo and two person shows at the Westville Gallery; participated in ArtSpace’s Citywide Open Studios; in “State of Mind,” the New Haven Art Council’s annual members exhibition; in “Spectra ‘04” sponsored by the New Haven Photo Arts Collective and in “Images 2005,” sponsored by the Shoreline Arts Alliance. I also have photographs on permanent display at the Albert Schweitzer Institute of Quinnipiac University. Running from October 26 to November 15, I had photomontages on exhibit as part of “Pixel Perfect” at the Agora Gallery in New York City’s Chelsea area. Much of my work is street photography. In my early years of taking pictures, I was influenced by photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Dorthea Lange and Eugene Smith. I was impressed by their timing, composition and willingness to engage with social realities. After I retired and learned Photoshop, I began to make photomontages. They often overlap with and extend my street photography. Creating montages allows me to play with contexts and juxtaposition, to integrate social realism and surrealism and to explore the interplay of forces and traditions in people’s lives. Montage allows me to reach beyond the single image and express, in a new way, the narrative impulse that motivates much of my work. Making montages also allows me to explore and integrate words and images.
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