The focus of my artistic practice is documenting the decline of the Industrial Revolution in oils on canvas. We’re entering a new era in our civilization, moving away from fossil fuels. Oil and gas powered factories, modes of transportation and ways to ship goods are evolving and leaving remnants behind of our former ways. I feel it’s important to document what came before and I find a strange beauty in the industrial sites, power plants and architecture from the turn of the 20th Century to mid 20th Century.
I am a native of Rochester Minnesota and am a self taught artist. I have always loved architecture and took mechanical and architecural drafting in Junior and Senior High School. Architecture was my first choice of career path, but I realized that 6 years of schooling didn’t mean a job at a top firm and I would have much better job opportunities if I pursued Electrical Engineering.
That path didn’t satisfy my creativity, so I left college and worked for the Rochester Post Bulletin for over a decade in the late 1970’s through the 1980’s. I sold advertising, but did many of my own advertising layouts and I learned grahpic design in the process.
After leaving the Post Bulletin in 1989, I pursued a career in one of my lifetime passions, riding horses. I was a working student(apprentice) at Brandywine Farm in Corcoran Minnesota, which is a well known training and breeding facility. I went out on my own as a trainer and instructor in 1996 plus continued my education in the Olympic sport of Dressage riding and training. I spent the 12 years training my own and my customer’s horses and teaching others the art of Dressage.
In the meantime, my life partner switched from training horses to training hunting dogs and we started Legend Gun Dogs a hunting dog training and breeding facility. We bred, raised and trained British Labs and German Wirehaired Pointers for Hunt Tests and Field Trials.
I moved back to Rochester in 2011 and was at loose ends, so I picked up painting again, which I hadn’t done since college. I also worked at building an arts ecosystem in Rochester and am the founder of Med City Arts Festival. I am past president of artist collaborative Gallery 24 and also past vice president and marketing director of SEMVA artist collective. I have had shows at both galleries, Forger Brewery and Priairie Care Health. I have work displayed in various businesses in Rochester and a permanent display of work at 125Live.
I also love fashion and have had a blast working at Kismet Consignment which is a high end women’s fashion and home decor consigment store. I currently work at Sephora, using my creativity with makeup looks.
I teach art and music classes at 125Live which is our communitty center which focuses on seniors. My focus is on maintaining brain plasticity as we age with art and music classes that focus on different areas of the brain. I teach perspective drawing, basic oil painting, how to draw faces and mindullness pen and ink doodles. I also teach music theory. I make art accessible to everyone by teaching at reduced prices.
I am on the board of Music Lessons For All which is a non profit focusing on giving scholarships for music lessons to underserved members of our community.
jajart 