About the Artist
As a long-time resident, I have attended Georgia schools from elementary to university. “Back-to-School” is a favorite time of year for me. Even while working full-time, fall would find me going back to school, too. I earned degrees in art, early childhood education, and instructional leadership. While working first as an art teacher, then a classroom teacher, I climbed the educational ladder, putting my course work to practical applications as a technology specialist, curriculum director, and assistant principal. My interest in art was never left behind, but incorporated into my work with children.
After retirement, I again went back to school, learning from all the art opportunities available to me. Over the years I have attended classes and workshops for on-going instruction in many areas of art. Studying with artists such as Mary O. Smith, Karen Schaaf, Scott Foxx, Micah Grogen, Lisa Bradley, Kim Riner, Bunyon Morris, Pang Chien Hsu, John Jensen, and Zoltan Szabo has improved my skill with clay and watercolor through exposure, practice, and encouragement. My membership in the Statesboro Regional Art Association continues to be a valued source of art focus for me.
Artist Statement
From my early years in Appalachia building with rocks and sand and mud at the edge of a flowing creek to my later childhood years searching south Georgia’s red clay river banks for smoothed stones, my love of simple creative materials originated and continues today, decades later.
I enjoy the fluidity of working with two very different art materials, different but also alike in the way they respond to the human touch. The traditional water-based materials of watercolor paints and raw clay are ever changing when they are wet but become stable and controlled when dry. Both media, one two dimensional and the other three dimensional, are challenging to work with, spontaneous, unforgiving, stubborn, and yet, so exciting and satisfying when art pieces turn out well. Both media involve using, in traditional ways, the most basic materials of colorants and clay from the earth, lots of water, brushes from sticks and animal fur or just my own two hands to create unique pieces of art. I love experimenting with paints and clay. I am most recently exploring ways to combine the two by painting underglazes in a loose watercolor style and by creating clay surfaces that mimic the look and feel of heavy art paper. Sharing my vision and work with others is a joy.
Contact information
Email:primaryalice@yahoo.com