Harbor, Vernazza, Italy Print

I grew up in New Orleans and spent many childhood hours drawing. At age 7, I took painting classes in the French Quarter, where I sold one of my first paintings to a studio visitor. In high school I carved my first wood figures. I have always been fascinated with the shapes in nature (e.g., the human figure, watercourses, landscapes, and especially mountains). I preferred sculptures over drawings and paintings because of their solidity and substance, an outer form with an internal core, just like a person. At Louisiana State University I studied psychology and philosophy (including the philosophy of art) and earned my Ph.D. in clinical psychology. My academic interests were in the psychology of art, and I published papers on theories of art appreciation and did research on the relations between sculpture preferences and personality traits. During those years I also took studio classes in drawing, jewelry-making, and sculpture (clay, plaster, wood, and stone) and sold my first wood sculpture to a Professor of Sculpture. After university, I moved to the Palo Alto, California, where I practiced psychology until retiring in 2014. Throughout that time I continued to do photography, sculpture, and painting, as well as taking drawing classes and instruction in wood carving by Ruth Waters in the San Francisco Bay area. My sculpture, photography, and paintings have been exhibited in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Washington DC, and Palo Alto, California. Pieces have also been acquired in private collections in these same U.S. cities and in London.