Put a Bug On It
The summer after my first year of college, hiking in the woods of North Carolina, I found a perfectly pristine but dead Luna Moth on the trail. I kept it and used it in my first printmaking class. I was hooked immediately on insects as a subject matter.
I liked that they are often ignored or disparaged, but when examined closely are unique and beautiful.
I began collecting insects and checking entomology books out of the library. Friends and neighbors would routinely bring me strange bugs they found around the house. I enjoyed learning about insects so much that I went back to University for degrees in Biology and Anthropology. My research focused on the interactions between insects and humans. This eventually led me to a PhD in governance and sustainability. Now I research environmental policy and how people make decisions about natural resources.
As a printmaker I've explored many different media. Occasionally I may post a vintage item made by me in my younger days (an etching or lithograph), but in my home studio I make primarily wood and linoleum blocks.
Here are a few of the places my work has been exhibited:
Solo Exhibitions
2014 Middletown Framing, North End Art Walk, Middletown, Connecticut.
2012 Middletown Framing, North End Art Walk, Middletown, Connecticut.
2002 Hall Gallery, Lowndes Arts Commission, Valdosta, Georgia.
1999 New Works, The College of Charleston, Albert Simons Center for the
Arts, Charleston, South Carolina.
Group Exhibitions
2015
-----60th Annual Juried Exhibit and Sale, Wesleyan Potters, Middletown, Connecticut.
-----Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition (AIMPE), October- November, Tokushima, Japan.
-----Post Landfill Action Network “The Art of Reuse”, October 11, 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH.
-----Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter held in Middletown, CT, on Saturday May 9th, sponsored by Wesleyan University’s College of the Environment.
-----Annual Member Show, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut.
2014
-----Atomic STEaM Photography Show, National Museum of Nuclear Science & History (a Smithsonian affiliated museum).
-----59th Annual Juried Exhibit and Sale, Wesleyan Potters, Middletown, Connecticut
2013
-----58th Annual Juried Exhibit and Sale, Wesleyan Potters, Middletown, CT
-----Weird Science, Middletown Artists Cooperative, MAC650 Gallery, Middletown, CT
-----Passionate Waters, Middletown Artists Cooperative, MAC650 Gallery, Middletown, CT
-----The Animals We Love, Gallery Arts Guild, Lakeville, CT
2001
-----Halpert Biennial, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina.
----- The Young Contemporaries Annual Student Show, The Halsey Gallery, The College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina.
2000
-----Rocky Mountain Arts Center 43rd Annual Outdoor Art Show, Rocky Mountain, NC
----- The Young Contemporaries Annual Student Show, The Halsey Gallery, The College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina.
1999
-----The Young Contemporaries Annual Student Show, The Halsey Gallery, The College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
1996
-----The Young Contemporaries Annual Student Show, The Halsey Gallery, The College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
1995
-----The Young Contemporaries Annual Student Show, The Halsey Gallery, The College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
Miscellany
2015
-----Woodblock print in the Wet Paint on the Weskeag Auction to benefit the Georges River Land Trust, August 16, South Thomaston, Maine
-----McLain’s Printmaking Online and Print Catalog selected artist
2014
-----Commission, hand-made wood block for Taino Smokehouse, Middletown, Connecticut
-----December. Public printmaking workshop at the Green Street Art Center, Middletown, CT, in collaboration with the North End Action Team
-----November. Public printmaking workshop at the Green Street Art Center, Middletown, CT, in collaboration with the North End Action Team
-----October. “Craftivism on Main Street,” public art event with the North End Action Team on Main Street, Middletown, CT
