Amber George Interview

Doily No. 2

24" x 24" encaustic/mm on panel

Lynette (LH): Amber, can you share with my readers a little about yourself?
Amber George: I am a painter and printmaker. I enjoy making art more than just about anything else in life, it dominates most of my day, actions and thoughts.  I'm married to a craftsman who builds custom homes and cabinetry. I really love to cook and spend time in my yard. My husband and I also enjoy sailing.

LH: Where did you grow up and what (if any) were there any early influences on your work?
Lynette: Amber, can you share with my readers a little about yourself?
Amber: I grew up mostly in Southern California. I think the outdoors were a big influence on me, along with my grandmothers.  We were always doing creative things, cooking, sewing, going to fabric stores, making crafts. We also spent quite a bit of time gardening, I remember picking rhubarb, cleaning it and making rhubarb crisp with it with my grandmother. It was a really remarkable thing to me at that age.

LH: Where do you live now?
Amber: I live in Southern California in a small artist community called Fallbrook. It's a remote little piece of heaven to me.

LH: Did you receive any formal art training? If yes, where, and what did you major in?
Amber: I took art classes for three years in high school and then received a BA in Fine Art from UCLA.

LH: At what point in your life did you become interested in making art?
Amber: I think looking back I was always making art. I remember sitting on the front porch looking west when I was about 5 or 6 and thinking that I couldn't color fast enough to capture the changing colors in the sky. I collected bits of ribbon and string, glued them to a glass jar, filled it with flowers and gave it to my mother for a present when I was about 7. I also won a coloring contest when I was in 3rd grade, an ice skating teddy bear. So cheesy, but I felt really proud.

Lace No. 1

18'" x18" encaustic/mm on panel

LH: Was there a certain point when you decided you were primarily an artist?
Amber: Probably in high school. I was the "class artist." I illustrated things for the year book, graduation programs, ASB logos. And I was expected to be different, which was oddly freeing considering high school is all about fitting in for many students. When it came time to apply for college I knew I would apply for art programs. Initially my parents were resistant, especially my father, but I think they figured that if I went to UCLA I would change my major.  Oops.

Plaids and Prints

12" x 36", encaustic/mm on panel

LH: Can you describe bit about your work in general?
Amber: Aesthetically speaking, I enjoy creating patterns. I also like taking a variety of elements and creating a new whole thing with them, so using papers, texture tools and odds and ends fascinate me. I have a hard time throwing away papers, especially monotypes that don't work. I almost always keep them to use in something else later. The subject matter that I am interested in right now is about memory, impressions that are real and metaphorical. I frequently reference nature, the landscape and sewing references as a vehicle to communicate those ideas. The work illustrates my general engagement and disengagement with traditional roles and ideas, painting things that are traditionally straight, even, symmetrical and what have you in a subtly irreverent, haphazard way.

LH:  What is your media?
Amber: I primarily use encaustic paint, but I rely heavily on my own photography, collage items and monotypes to create my imagery.

LH: What is your current work about?
Amber: The current work I am making in the studio is all about sewing and impressions, memories of childhood and the quiet mending involved in that. The series started as a way for me to grieve over the loss of my grandfather and prepare for the transitions in life that it started. Many of the images in the paintings are inspired by this transition.

LH: What is your workspace like?
Amber: I have a small studio in my house.  It feels very cocoon like for me, a safe and productive space for me.  Everything is close and in reach at all times. My husband built me great storage cabinets and painting racks, so everything stays pretty organized and efficient. I have a view of my garden that keeps me checked in to the ever evolving aspects of life.

LH: Describe how you work in your studio. How do you get "in a groove" and what inspires you?
Amber: I do get in a groove. I tend to play a set of CD's that somehow relate to whatever I am working on, although to the outsider it probably seems not related at all. It seems to have an hypnotic effect and lets me free parts of my mind to create more easily. I tend to wear loose comfortable clothing. I typically start my studio time in the late morning or early afternoon. I like to visually review what I'd been working on in days past and start with easy task, like priming panels or cutting paper, nothing too intense. Before you know it I have a flash about what needs to be done on this painting or that one and I get to work. I work on several paintings at once which helps me from getting stuck. If I don't know what to do next in one painting I set it aside and work on another one.

LH: Do you have any web links you'd like to share?
Amber: My website is ambergeorge.com and my blog is ambergeorge.wordpress.com


LH: Do you ever get stuck with your work and how do you remedy this?
Amber: I do get stuck. When I do, I try to spend as much time in the studio as possible. I remind myself of something that a professor of mine told me in college, the times you least want to paint are the times that you most need to paint. I don't subscribe to the idea that I have to be "in the mood" to paint. If as an artist you are communicating ideas then those ideas fuel the work, not a mood.

LH: Do you have particular habits that you think support your art practice?
Amber: SLEEP!! I try to not wake up to an alarm clock. This starts my day off much calmer and I feel as though I get enough sleep, a key to maintaining creativity. I try to make sure I get any errands done in the morning since I am most creative in the afternoon. I try to leave the studio everyday on a high note. I work until I have a good feeling about something, or a very clear idea of what I'd like to get done the next day.  I try not to leave the studio frustrated, but that inevitably happens sometimes too.

LH:  What are you reading right now?
Amber:  I am finishing A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book.

LH:  Do you have other jobs other than making art?
Amber: I teach occasional workshops in encaustic and monotype. It helps balance out my solitary quiet time in the studio, and I believe in the Chinese saying that, "when one teaches two learn."

LH:  Where would you like to be in 5 years as far as your art making?
Amber: I would like to continue to paint about ideas that are exciting and interesting to me. I'd like to be working in some ideas I have right now about 3 dimensional work. I hope I am still experimenting and exploring.

LH: Do you have any upcoming shows that you'd like to mention?
Amber: I have a two person show at Page Bond Gallery in Richmond Virginia that will be up until the end of May and I'll be in two group shows in July, one at Julie Nester Gallery in Park City Utah and another at Susan Eley Fine Art in New York.

Thank you Amber!

A Blossom in the Danforth Museum Show!

This spring, I have been creating some more 3D wall objects of sorts. I'm happy to say that one of these pieces was recently accepted into the Danforth Museum Juried Members Show 2010. This show is running concurrently with their annual Off the Wall Exhibit!
My piece is called Blossom (below). It is constructed of found materials and encaustic.

Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition
Opening Reception Thursday, June 17, 2010, 5:30pm - 7:30 pm

Join artists, family and friends in celebrating art and the creation of art in one of New England’s most exciting and fastest growing cultural organizations. This reception is free and open to the public.
 Please join me at the reception if you are in the area.

Debra Corbett Artist Interview

Advent II

mixed media on canvas 24"x 24"

Lynette Haggard (LH): Can you share a bit about yourself, and early influences on your work?

Debra: I have lived in Melrose, MA For the past 30 years but did grow up in Northern New Jersey.  There were certain advantages to being so close to New York City and my parents exposed us to the culture that the city had to offer. I have memories of going in to visit some of the major museums like the Met, Whitney, Guggenheim, Frick, and the Cloisters.  Seeing a movie at Radio City Music Hall , or a play on Broadway was quite the experience and seeing the crowds and pure pulse of the city was thrilling and exhilarating. I believe the art that is produced is always a result of your life experiences so I guess some of this  background is there in my paintings. I attended Nazareth College in NY State but transferred to Seton Hall to finish my art training. I learned classical painting techniques and became more of an expressionistic plein-air landscape painter. I have a background in jewelry design and was a faux painter many years while my children were growing up. All this has come to the table in terms of imagery and surface.

  Tea House 

 mixed media 24x24

Silk Road

mixed media on canvas 30"x 24"

LH: At what point in your life did you become interested in making art?

Debra: I loved art always and was a very creative child.  When I started to have some sales and gallery representation it occurred to me that this would become my lively hood.

LH: Was there a certain point when you decided you were primarily an artist?

Debra: About 4 years ago I became less interested in representational work. My landscapes, although very textural, were portraying images that seemed common and uninspiring. I decided one day to just play with color and try a more abstract approach. Having visited several countries in Europe I was influenced by the aged surfaces on walls and walkways and became interested in using the feelings I got from them in my work. I try to bring a more universal and emotional feel to the surface. I enjoy creating a sense of mystery that the viewer can respond to. The more you look at the work the more you see and I enjoy the fact that a viewer brings his or her interpretation to the painting. I use a variety of mixed media that includes plaster, acrylic paint, powdered metallic pigments, and glazes. I usually start on a black canvas that I have painted. From there I add the plaster with a variety of tools using anything from trowels to palette knives to cardboard strips. While it is still setting up I create my surface by carving, removing, manipulating, and cutting into the plaster. When this is dry in a day or two I then start to create the painting.I do like to sand down the surface but leave a good tooth for the paint. This stage is unpredictable and delightful. I often don’t know where I’m going with the results and it all becomes spontaneous and exciting. I stop when I feel there is enough interest and good color harmony. I usually put a final finish glaze on at the end.

 Debra's Home Studio

LH: Can you tell us what your workspace is like and how you work in your studio?

Debra: I am lucky to have a well set-up home studio. It is a place of retreat and solitude. I usually try to paint everyday or at least paint in my “head”. I think we artists are either making art or thinking about making it all the time. I know for me there is often an inner conversation and imaginary notebook in my head  in which I am always processing info.  I love those days when I can bring in a nice cup of coffee, throw in a load of wash, and just get to work. I DO consider my time in the studio as real work.  Making art can be quite mentally exhausting, often frustrating, but many times pure joy.  Getting “in the groove” means not answering the phone, not looking at email or facedbook, but absolutely listening to music. I love WUBM. This is 24 hours commercial free folk music. It’s just the right sound for my background. There are days when I stare at the surface and am clueless but more often than not I can’t keep up with the ideas I have in my head.

LH: What is your website?
Debra: My website is www.debracorbett.com. This was designed by my son and I am very proud of it. 

LH: Do you have particular habits that you think support your art practice?Debra: Even though each artist creates their own look or visual penmanship we are always influenced by what we see, read, or talk about. I love going to museums and galleries to see what people are doing and also enjoy looking at art books. Our library here in Melrose has an exceptional art section that continues to grow all the time.  I also feel  that I am lucky to have many artist friends who can “talk the art talk”. It’s great to do this since the creative time in the studio is so solitary. Comparing notes, art supply tips, or talking about an artist you may have discovered is all worthwhile.


LH: What are you reading?
Finishing up “Middlesex”…terrific book. I also love works by Alice McDermott and Jhumpa Lahiri. There is a book called, “Inside the Painter’s Studio” by Joe Fig that is very good.

LH: Do you have other jobs other than making art?
Debra: I have grown children now and a very supportive husband who has allowed me to pursue this career of being an artist. This is the time of my life where I seem to be the most productive. It helps not to have too many interruptions in terms of child rearing anymore. Being able to spend hours at a time , getting into the “zone”, and not have to watch the clock to pick up someone from soccer practice has been a real treat. I’d love to think that my work will continue to evolve and grow . There may even be changes ahead and the fact that this is unpredictable is very exciting to me. I have an urge to really do some large paintings…we’ll see if I jump into that fire.

Elise Wagner: Interview, PART 1

Elise Wagner
Portland, Oregon

(photos courtesy of Elise Wagner)

Lynette Haggard (LH): Can you share with my readers a little about yourself?
Elise Wagner: I have been a working artist for many years in Portland, Oregon.  My studio is at my house which I purchased in 2002 and is where I live and work along with my two cats, BoBo and Ozlo and a Goldendoodle named Cleopatra.  I share my house with my partner Dan Reid, a musician, real estate investor and dabbler in all that is creative.  He is enormously supportive and also helps me greatly in the studio by framing and photographing the work.

LH: Where did you grow up and what (if any) were there any early influences on your work?
Elise: I grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey.  I had easy access to museums in New York City growing up.  I found seeing the paintings of VanGogh, Monet and Seurat very intriguing at an early age.  There are some family influences.  My mother liked to draw and write poetry.  Her dad Salvatore was a house painter and wine maker from Albania.  I think I inherited my creativity and drive from both of my first generation immigrant grandfathers, Sal who was a house painter and wine maker and Frank who was a furniture maker from Germany. 

Magnetic Parallel

encaustic on birch panel

48" x 48"

LH: Where do you live now?
Elise: I have been living and working in Portland, Oregon for nearly 25 years.

LH: Did you receive any formal art training? If yes where and what did you major in?
Elise: I took drawing and art history classes at NYU and transferred to Portland State University in Portland, Oregon where I majored in Painting and Printmaking with a Minor in Art History.

LH: At what point in your life did you become interested in making art?
Elise: When I was about 4 or 5 I became very interested in drawing and coloring like most kids.  My mom began working at the Hudson County Library which enabled me to do art with other kids there.  I was always coloring or drawing as a little kid.  My parents helped encourage my interest by giving me pencil, watercolor and marker sets to draw with.  I began selling drawings of snoopy when I was in the sixth grade and created my own comic strip called “The Potato Heads”.  Later in high school, I directed intramurals and was fortunate to have a graduate of Cooper Union as an art teacher who got me interested in Art History.  He also encouraged me to begin entering competitions and go to the museums in New York more often.

Elise Wagner's Studio

LH: Was there a certain point when you decided you were primarily an artist?
Elise: Although I had always loved making art, my first love was dance.  I began dancing when I was six after being a kid model in New York. I began performing at eight and was in a local troupe by the age of thirteen I had a serious ambition to be a professional dancer.  One week before Christmas in 1982, my ambition was derailed by a head on collision with a drunk driver.  I smashed my face and knees and had to have multiple reconstructive surgeries as well as nine months of physical therapy.  The doctor’s told me that my knees would not be the same and discouraged me from pursuing dance as a career.

At this time I was a sophomore in high school.  While recuperating at home, my mom brought me art books from the library to draw from. Art does save lives, it helped me tremendously in my long recovery. When I went back to school, and since I could not take gym for the rest of my high school education, my art teacher arranged it so that I could take a two-hour course in art at the end of every Wednesday and Friday. This time exposed me learning more about photography, printmaking and oil painting as well as many visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with classmates.  I so wish I could find my teacher and thank him for the breadth of education and knowledge he gave me.  I went on to win a WNET-13 PBS competition that he encouraged me to enter.  My story is one that reflects the adage “when one door closes, another one opens”.  Making art opened itself to me and I have never looked back.

Cloudburst Plate, 1

encaustic on birch panel

10" x 10"

LH: Can you describe bit about your work in general.
Elise: Over the past fifteen years, my work has evolved and come to explore the relationship between science and art.  By combining images of astronomy and physics, I strive to reflect the seemingly illogical and arbitrary order inherent in today’s uncertain world through its many symbols. The texture, depth and complexity of the encaustic surfaces of my paintings often represent the great unknown and the celestial, while the scientific symbolism suggests the accurate and the quantifiable.

Painting has always been a good platform for me to negotiate the tensions between the real and the abstract, chaos and order, the unknown and the factual.  I do this with every layer of the surface, making the evolution of the painting its own past present and future. Daily studio practice is the narrative of the work, a process of making, reflecting researching and making again.

LH: What is your media?
Elise: My media was primarily oil painting and collage.  Now it is more encaustic with oil paint.  I discovered encaustic in 1993 and taught myself how to do it while pursuing my degree at Portland State University.

Studio Entrance

LH: What is your workspace like?
Elise: My workspace is very small and organized.  I moved from a 1,000 square foot warehouse into 450 square foot studio when I bought my house.  I have a desk in the window, journaling is a big part of my process and I do much of it there or on the sofa in the sitting area.  There is a drafting table for “dry work”, a small bar and library of art books, two large work tables, a portable folding table to work on large panels, an oil painting table, my “wax central” area with all my encaustic supplies and vent hood.  Everything in the studio is on wheels so that it can be both a classroom and a working studio.  It is a north facing studio with a decent amount of light.

Office and sitting area in Elise's studio

LH: Describe how you work in your studio. How do you get "in a groove" and what inspires you?
Elise: After handling the business of the day, walking the dog and getting my daily exercise (running or yoga), I usually have a little lunch and settle into the studio in the afternoon with a cup of coffee.  I walk around and reflect on what I did the day before. I work on several pieces at once, each one at a different stage, so I think about next steps, it’s very methodical that way. I work on whichever piece I feel compelled to work on in that moment.  I like the quiet in the studio as a way to greet the day.  When I’m ready to work and get into the groove, my ritual is to light some incense, turn on some inspiring music, and dance around while formulating ideas of what I’m going to do and get working. 

Two waxy work areas in Elise's workspace

LH: Do you have any web links/site/blog etc. you'd like to share that show your work?
Elise:  http://www.elisewagner.com as well as a like/fan page on Facebook. My encaustic paint line is available via www.wagnerencaustics.com

LH: Do you ever get stuck with your work and how do you remedy this?
Elise: I do get stuck with my work.  When this happens, I just choose to focus on something else, give myself a break, journal or draw, do some gardening or take in something new.  It is vital for the work that my life be balanced and not focused on working all the time.  Often, in order to invite the muse, I have to get out of town or go for a hike.  Sometimes, I’ll research the content I intend for my paintings or read about other artist’s or on the topic of being stuck. Marketing is a hobby of mine so, there’s always something to be done there.

LH: Do you have particular habits that you think support your art practice?
Elise: Journaling, reading and drawing is very important to my practice.  Inviting fellow artists come and see the work and get feedback is always very helpful after working in isolation for long periods. Also, continued engagement with the work.  There are days I just go in there and look around or rearrange things, I consider it all part of my practice and process.  This is where having a studio at home is invaluable.

LH: What are you reading right now?
Elise: I am reading Eat, Pray, Love, Wherever You Go There You Are and am also perusing a book entitled: Dark Cosmos in Search of Our Universe’s Missing Mass and Energy.  I say perusing because it is very dense reading.

Wagner studio, facing north

LH: Do you have other jobs other than making art?
Elise:  I teach workshops both in my studio and various institutions.  I manufacture and sell my paints Wagner Encaustics online worldwide, to my students and at local art supply stores in Portland, Oregon.

Making paint and teaching keeps me pretty busy.  People come from all over the country to take my workshops.  I never have to leave home AND, I even live behind a motel that my students often stay at!

LH: Do you have any upcoming shows that you'd like to mention?

Elise: My next solo show is in Portland at Butters Gallery this July.  Then after that, in November, I have another solo show at Hallway Gallery in Bellevue, WA-that completes 2010.  In the Spring of 2011, I have two solo shows opening simultaneously at Chase Gallery in Boston and Sordoni Gallery at Wilkes Barre University in Wilkes Barre, PA .

LH: What is your current work about? do you have photos you're willing to share on my blog?
Elise: My current work investigates the forces of solar flares, sun storms and the magnetic forces that they embody. I find it intriguing that the sun is so fragile and enormous and that all of our lives so depend on it. This  duality and the very violence of the image itself is fascinating to me.

I have gone about it in several ways, working large and small, through hand drawing stencils and also freehand painting with the wax. There is also a lot more oil paint and dry brush involved.

There will be twenty-two new paintings of various sizes in my July show at Butters in Portland. Some, but not all of the new work focuses on sun storms. The larger work ventures off into other abstract realms.

Creating a molten magma like texture with encaustic for these images of sun storms has created a somewhat accidental but symbiotic feel to the overall process of their making.

Sunstorm Table, 2010

encaustic on panel
28" x 24"

Detail of an Untitled Piece, 2010

encaustic on panel
12" x 12"

LH: Where would you like to be in 5 years as far as your art making?
Elise: I venture a break will be in order for me after my East Coast shows open around next May. I would like to do some overseas travel to fill me up so I can begin creating again.  I would also like to do a residency overseas or in the states.  I imagine I will continue to submit my work to galleries and apply for grants and competitions to help fund my pursuits.

READERS PLEASE NOTE: Part 2 of this interview will be published in early June, with some sneak preview images from Elise's show at Butters Gallery.

Catherine Carter: My First Artist Interview

At the end of 2009, I made a commitment to bring my studio presence to a higher level, both online and in showing my work. So I redesigned my website and began this blog, which I launched in January 2010. The beauty of blogging is that you become connected to other artists who are online, and there is another dimension to networking and appreciating artwork.

One of the artists I have become interested in is Catherine Carter.  I find the meditative quality of her paintings very appealing. She agreed to this interview and to share some of her work. All photos courtesy of Catherine Carter, via her website. Thank you for your candor, Catherine!


Interview with Catherine Carter

Lynette: Can you share with my readers a little about yourself?

Catherine: I am an artist who paints flowing lines on canvas.  I am also a teacher and a writer.  I am 47 years old, and I live with my husband, Kevin Seward, and our cat Petey in Holliston, Massachusetts.

Lynette: Where did you grow up and what (if any) were there any early influences on your work?

Pool 1
Acrylic on canvas
40” H x 28” W

Catherine: I grew up in Massachusetts.  I always loved to draw, people especially.  When I was growing up, I read a lot and listened to narrated records for children, and I would illustrate the stories.  In high school, I became interested in fashion design and drew a lot of figures wearing my designs.  I also studied ballet when I was a teenager, and I think that the experience of moving articulately through space was an influence on my sensibilities as a visual artist.

Lynette: Did you receive any formal art training? If yes where and what did you major in?

Catherine: When I graduated from high school, I earned a diploma from the School of Fashion Design in Boston.  Several years later, I studied full-time for three semesters at the Art Institute of Boston.  Several years after that, I earned a bachelor’s degree from Lesley University, then I spent a year of full-time study at the Massachusetts College of Art.  Three years later, I earned a Master’s Degree in Painting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Pool 2
Acrylic on canvas
40” H x 28” W

Lynette: At what point in your life did you become interested in making art?

Catherine: I have been interested in making art for as long as I can remember.  I was always drawing as a child.

Current 3

Acrylic on Canvas

30" square

Lynette: Was there a certain point when you decided you were primarily an artist?

Catherine: I always wanted to be an artist, but I didn’t know how or what to do to be one, on a day-to-day basis, as a career.  I was fine in school, because you could just go to class and draw.  But I didn’t understand how to make a “life” as an artist.  Not just earning a living — I mean I didn’t understand how to set up a studio, create a series, or structure a life around making art.

My husband was a dedicated Dumpster diver, and one day he brought home a pile of magazines he had found.  One was an alumni magazine from Boston College, and inside was an article on Paul Shakespear, a wonderful Boston-area painter.  I read this profile on him, and I realized that here was the life I was looking for.  The story described his schedule, how he had a separate rented studio space and he worked all day long on his painting, receiving occasional feedback from his wife and showing his work at a local gallery, but mostly creating in dedicated solitude.  I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do.  And so I found a way to make it happen.

Lynette: Can you describe bit about your work in general.

Catherine: My work is various configurations of lines, inspired by movement, textile weaves and calligraphy.  I work by alternately drawing lines in white acrylic paint on stretched and toned canvas, extruding the paint from squeeze bottles, and then applying washes of various colors over the lines.

Current 4

Acrylic on Canvas

30" square

Lynette: What is your media?

Catherine: Acrylic on canvas. Sometimes I apply paint to fabric, then cut it into shapes and collage it on canvas.

Lynette: What is your current work about?

Catherine: I have been working recently on paintings that are inspired by water and its various surfaces and moods, so I’ve used a range of marks and different blues.  I am just starting to move into a series using cool reds.

Lynette: What is your workspace like?

Catherine: I have a large walkout basement in the house I’m renting now, with a deep sink and plenty of space for five big work tables as well as storage.

Lynette: Describe how you work in your studio. How do you get "in a groove" and what inspires you?

Catherine: I never have a problem getting into the groove.  I just turn on some music and start working.  I work in layers, so I’m usually in the middle of making a painting.  But there’s no problem in just stretching a new canvas and jumping right in.

Tide 1
Acrylic on Canvas

50” H x 20” W

Lynette: Do you have any web links/site/blog etc. you'd like to share that show your work?

Catherine: My website is www.CatherineCarterArt.com and my blog is www.catherinecarterart.blogspot.com.


Lynette: Do you ever get stuck with your work, and how do you remedy this?

Catherine: I am never stuck with my work. I work so fast and so fluidly that I just paint over something if I don’t like it, and just keep going until I do like it.

Lynette: Do you have particular habits that you think support your art practice?

Catherine: Just making the art inspires me to continue.  The more I paint, the more energy I have and the more ideas I have. 

Lynette: What are you reading right now?

Catherine: One of my hobbies is reading biographies (especially autobiographies) of famous people, particularly dancers, musicians, actors, and other creative people.  I am currently reading the autobiography of Juliana Hatfield, a rock musician who’s now in her 40s.  I just finished a biography of Warren Beatty, and before that I read a book on Gene Kelly and the making of “Singin’ in the Rain.”  I read a LOT, probably a book a week.

Lynette: Do you have other jobs other than making art?

Catherine: Yes, I teach at Framingham State College and the Danforth Museum School in Framingham.

Lynette: If so, please give us some details.

Catherine: At the college, I teach an art course for elementary education majors who have no art experience, to give them an idea of how to introduce art into their classrooms.  Interestingly enough, I also teach professional development classes at the Danforth school, to art teachers in the public school system who need continuing art classes to maintain their state certification.  So I work with teachers who are just beginning their careers, as well as veteran teachers who need inspiration and technical information at the graduate level.

I also teach a number of adult education classes at the Danforth, and my favorite class of all is fashion illustration, which I teach to high school students.

Lynette: Where would you like to be in 5 years as far as your art making?
 
Catherine: My goal is to have secured ongoing representation with at least one national gallery in 5 years.  I would also like to have a solo show, and a group show at a museum, within the next 5 years.  I have had a lot of success selling my work to corporations, and I would like to continue doing this over the next 5 years as well.

Lynette: Do you have any upcoming shows that you'd like to mention?

Catherine: I currently have two paintings on exhibit at the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, Cameroon, as part of the Art In Embassies Program.  A few other shows in the works, but the details are still coming together … stay tuned!