I was born and raised in New York City and at age 12 my family moved to the village of Stony Brook in Long Island. There I attended the University, earning a B.A. in social sciences. Then I migrated to California to attend graduate school in sociology at the University of California, first at Santa Barbara where I obtained an M.A., then at Berkeley where I began doctoral work. I left academia and spent the next 25 years as a graphic designer in corporate settings in such varied fields as architecture, education, urban planning, library information systems and civil engineering. During this time I also took up painting and enrolled in the M.F.A. program in painting at SF State University for a year.
Dean at Chalk Hill Artist Residency
In my painting I find inspiration from a variety of sources. To name a few—art history, the natural world, sociocultural phenomena, and other art forms (cinema, literature, music). My recent work is inspired by the ancient frescoes in the Mediterranean region such as Pompeii and Herculaneum. When viewing the wall paintings of these ruins of these ancient ruins we can see that the ancients pursued many of the same pleasures that we do today. At the same time they are mysterious—their authors and owners remain anonymous and unknowable, hidden in the cracked walls and faded, peeling paint. The still lifes of Earthly Delights celebrate this shared inspiration with the ancients by employing various subtractive techniques (blotting, sanding, scraping and scrubbing), while at the same time adding a sense of contemporaneity through use of modern colors, compositions and subject matter.
education
B.A., Sociology, State University of New York at Stony Brook
M.A., Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara
MFA Study in Fine Art at San Francisco State University
solo exhibitions
2018 El Cerrito City Hall Gallery, El Cerrito CA
2016 Morris Graves Museum, Eureka CA
Mountainview Center for the Performing Arts, Mountainview CA 2014
Sierra Arts Gallery, Reno NV
2013 El Cerrito City Hall Gallery, El Cerrito CA 2013 Addison Street Window Gallery, Berkeley CA 2011 Alliance Française de San Francisco
2010 El Cerrito City Hall Gallery, El Cerrito CA 2009 1947 Center St Gallery, Berkeley CA
2003 Addison Street Gallery, Berkeley CA
special exhibitions
2011 Flora and Fauna, City of Emeryville Public Art in the Bus Shelters, Emeryville CA
selected group exhibitions
2023 Mendocino Arts Center, Mendocino CA
2022 Lori Austin Gallery, Healdsburg CA
2020 Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg CA
2019 Art of Wine, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg CA
2012 The SIege Symphony, Malonga Arts Center, Oakland CA
Emeryville Arts Annual, Emeryville CA
2011 Emeryville Arts Annual, Emeryville CA
2010 Emeryville Arts Annual, Emeryville CA
What Lies Above Below & Through–Ryan Fine Art, Livermore CA
2009 Emeryville Arts Annual, Emeryville CA
2008 Emeryville Arts Annual
Decay, Sixth Street Gallery, Vancouver WA
Sounds Like Art, The Downtown, Berkeley CA
2007 Gallery Artists, Nest Gallery, Oakland
Music, Eclectix Gallery, El Cerrito CA
Annual, Emeryville Arts, Emeryville CA
2006 Lost + Found–Gallery 333, Sausalito CA
2005 Signatures of Intention, Prescott–Joseph Center, Oakland CA
Show–Gallery One, San Francisco, CA
Art + Music–Sebastopol Center for The Arts, Sebastopol CA
Heroic Series–Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland CA
artist residencies
2017 Chalk Hill Artist Residency, Sonoma CA
2022 Professional Artist in Retreat, Mendocino Arts, Mendocino CA
​
publications
2016 The Monthly (cover art), November
2009 The Monthly (cover art), October
collections
Adobe Systems
CA City of Berkeley
CA City of Richmond, CA
Kalinda Software
Shellmound Christi
Kava Massih Architects
Asst. Private Collections