Distinctly Montana Magazine

d i s t i n c t ly m o n ta n a • w i n t e r 2 0 1 5 38 you'vE BEEn IntErEStEd In art SInCE you wErE a ChaMPIon doodlEr In gradE SChool. IS PaIntIng SoMEthIng you fEEl you wErE Born to, or MorE a rESult of wIllPowEr and Effort? My opinion is that it is both. As much as some refuse to accept it, the existence of "knack" or "talent" is a reality. However, those successful artists who will admit to having either will quickly add that it takes so much more than that to achieve even modest suc- cess, and by success I mean the creation of works that reflect some degree of artistic merit. Talent, knowledge, and persistence are the main ingredients of artistic accomplishment and the least of these is talent. Early on you rECEIvEd InStruCtIon In thE nIColaIdES MEthod of drawIng. tEll uS what that IS, and how It waS BEnEfICIal to your worK. Kimon Nicolaides taught at the Art Students' League of New York in the 1920s and '30s. He devised a fairly precise year-long curriculum of drawing exercises utilizing gesture, contour and mass studies. It is both tedious and grueling and therefore required a mentor/ motivator who I was lucky to have at the time. As with all effective drawing teaching methods, and there are many, he taught me to see in terms of large shapes, size relationships, and the effect of light on objects. It'S IntErEStIng that you SPEnt So Many yEarS aS a CrEatIvE dIrECtor In a toy CoMPany. doES that havE any rElEvanCE to your worK? I think the corporate era of my art career influences many aspects of my painting era. Firstly, the design process informs how I compose work. Carefully considered compositional arrangement of elements in a painting is design. Secondly, I approach the concept phase of a painting almost as a project assignment with a set of "giv- ens" — things that must be included or adhered to in order for the work to fulfill its original intent. Thirdly, the work is al- ways intended for an audience and never produced in a vacuum or for my purely personal gratification. you Say your art "tEllS a Story." dESCrIBE onE of your rECEnt PaIntIngS and thE Story and EMotIonal ContEnt you arE tryIng to ConvEy. The painting Endurance depicts what is on a purely visual level, a group of bison standing in a wallow somewhere on the prairie. The story it tells, however, is one of strength and the positive attributes of unity. Here I've used a three-generation depiction of a fam- ily unit as symbolic of the larger herd. The story this painting tells both is metaphorical and literal. Survival depends on many strengths both individual and as part of a larger and often complex community. And you, the viewer, are very much part of the story. enDurance

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