Author Profile

I am an Appalachian oil and mural painter and am currently serving as Director of Creative Placemaking at Coalfield Development. I received training in sculpture in my BFA program at Marshall University that has heavily informed my work as a painter-I paint in a very sculptural way. I also earned a master’s in teaching from Marshall and have over ten years of teaching experience. Those experiences inform the work I do now, whether I’m developing programs for artists or creating a collaborative piece of public art with my community.

I work in a huge variety of mediums and methods, from small oil portraits in the studio to large-scale public art.

I’ve always been interested in rendering human faces and bodies and have used a huge variety of media and approaches to do it. I have an active imagination and dream life, which I think fosters my love for surrealism in art. I try to capture the spirit of the people I paint and leave enough space for the viewer to see themselves in the work as well. I’m in love with oil paint and am inspired by a constantly growing and diverse list of artists. I use a combination of traditional layers and alla prima techniques and often play in mixed media with the use of collage, oil mediums, graphite, and gold and silver leaf.

Outside the studio, I enjoy creating large-scale public murals. Whenever possible I like to work alongside community members to create work that changes the feel of our environment and brings people together through a shared creative experience.