mixed media artist
About my art
Broadly speaking, I am interested in how we solidify collections of salient moments of our lives into constructs of identity, beliefs, and narratives about ourselves, others, and the world. In my artwork I attempt to distill this interest down to a playful exploration of color, shape, and symbol. I approach each piece like an explorer, constantly trying new techniques and materials, and consciously breaking rules. I work primarily in abstraction and in many ways I'm trying to create my own visual syntax expressing a complex and disorganized unity that holds together as a sort of gestalt in any one moment. Often, I'm as perplexed as the viewer regarding the question of "what is it about?", and I find the urge to generate meaning to lay on top of art a fascinating human tendency. I also understand and accept that my work may not be about anything. It may be a purely visual, sensory, experience, a visual "sound and fury, signifying nothing," if you will. For me it is an expression of something, though I recognize that may have little to do with what it is for the viewer. I am agnostic on the belief that art has to have a stated purpose or message intended by the artist. If I have any intention, it is that my art creates a moment of pause, curiosity, questioning, and even confusion and discomfort. I want viewers to enter the tension between the need to make meaning and embodying an experience.
"If I have any intention, it is that my art creates a moment of pause, curiosity, questioning, and even confusion and discomfort. I want viewers to enter the tension between the need to make meaning and embodying an experience."
About me
In 1988 I entered college with an art major already declared. After three semesters of critiques I didn't understand and an overwhelming feeling of imposter syndrome, I dropped the major, believing I simply was not an "Artist." Eventually, I settled on a double major of Philosophy and English Literature (both of which had great influence on who I am and still influence my artwork today).
After undergrad I started my first small business - a web design firm specializing in small business ecommerce, and then went on to earn an MBA and Ph.D. in Strategic Management. I have owned and run other businesses and served as a professor of business and entrepreneurship.
While I continued to explore visual arts, music, and writing after college and throughout my life, it was not until 2020 that I applied consistent intention, effort, and study to my visual art practice. Now, I split my time between my art business and my tax and accounting service business (Sanders & Boyles).
Trish in front of her mural "Fly Robin Fly"
