Artist Statement
I once impulsively described myself as an accidental artist; on reflection, I think this must be because the work I like best has come from periods of wandering and play, or from improvising with pieces of earlier work, rearranging things into a more coherent whole. Acrylics, water soluble crayons, pens, papers, fabric and thread, glue and scissors are very amenable to this process and can sustain the accidental flow that wakes me up.  
 

Often I work from a still life set-up with my favorite domestic objects - dishes, flowers, and small statues.  Or I look at a painting I admire as a way to then improvise on its composition or color. Occasionally I work from photographs, beginning upside down for best effect. 

 

My day job as a psychoanalyst has brought me back into touch with a lost creative drive.  It seems to take me, on its own steam, to places I can later study with a more purposeful eye, as with dreams and session notes. This process began in 2001 with blind contour sketches of nearby objects on a summer vacation.  Later I began to add color or collage.  When I am not clear yet what I want to make next, these blind exercises (looking only at the subject, not at the paper) serve as useful warmups. Sometimes I like them enough to frame them as a series or transform them into larger pieces.   Most recently my work is moving in a more abstract direction.

Biography 

I began making art in 2001, beginning with blind contour drawing and moving to collage, acrylic painting and hand-stitching.  Most recently I began to move in a more abstract direction.

 

In 2003 I founded and managed a gallery inside the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, where I teach and practice.  Our mission was to create a space for dialogue and interaction between artists and psychoanalysts, both of whom draw heavily on images from the unconscious. Gallery 1581 has held exhibitions as often as once a month and as rarely as once a year, most recently to fund scholarship programs.  I managed and/or executed all aspects of the gallery duties, including conceiving of themes, publicizing calls for work, selecting work, curating, hanging, sales, and eventually acquisition of a permanent collection.  For many of the exhibitions I arranged artist talks or workshops to accompany the work.  My own work was often in the exhibits, sometimes as the invitation image.   

 

An article featuring my curatorial work at Gallery 1581 appeared in the Arts Outlook section of Brookline Magazine in May 2007; Curious Curator. 

 

I assisted for several semesters in the mid 2000’s at Mass College of Art and Design in a graduate course for media designers, “Design as Experience” helping connect the students with unconscious layers of their creations, with an eye toward the eventual users of their products and served as a thesis adviser. 

 

I am a member of Concord Art Association, Cambridge Art Association, Newburyport Art Association, and Surface Design Association.  I have studied with Nancy Gruskin and Emily Passman through Concord Art Association;  Kimberly Becker and Berri Kramer of Flying With Scissors Studio; and at Black Pond Studio with Catherine Kehoe,  Jennifer Pochinski and Erin Raedeke. Finally, Matt Klos in Tavira Portugal.  
 

I have won multiple awards, and my work has been shown at:

 

Three Stones Gallery, 2023-present, guest artist

Gallery 1581, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, guest artist, curator, ongoing

Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, ongoing

Attleboro Art Museum

Danforth Museum

Gallery 263

Cambridge Health Associates

Marblehead Arts Association

Cambridge Art Association

Concord Art Association

Newburyport Art Association

Honeyjones Studio

Styylish

Goodenow Library

Lincoln Library

Cambridge Open Studios

Starbucks

Real Estate Stagings by Nellie Aikenhead

and private collections

CV 
 

Awards

Fall 2024, Roddy Exhibition, Concord Art Association, Juror's Prize

Spring 2023, National Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Juror’s Choice Award

October 2022, “BLUE” Cambridge Art Association, awarded Best in Show 
 

Exhibitions

Winter 2025, Guest Artist, "Paint, Pencil Paper", Three Stones Gallery
Winter 2025, Gallery 1581, Solo Show
Winter 2025, Members’ Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association
Winter 2025, “Immigration; Joys and Hardships”, Roslindale Public Library
Winter 2025, Concord Art Association, Members Show
Winter 2024, Small Works, Bromfield Gallery
Winter 2024, Aura, Cambridge Art Association

Fall 2024, Roddy Exhibition, Concord Art Association, Juror's Prize

Fall 2024, Fall Salon, Cambridge Art Association
Summer 2024, Galaray House, Guest Artist

Summer 2024, Guest Artist, Call Me Forward Call Me Back, Three Stones Gallery
Winter 2023, Members’ Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association

Fall 2023, (A)Temporal, Cambridge Art Association

Fall 2023, Member’s Juried 1, Concord Art Association

Summer 2023, guest artist, “The Chi of Everything”, Three Stones Gallery, Concord, Ma.

Spring/Summer 2023, Annual Juried Exhibition, Danforth Museum 

Spring 2023, Artesis Gallery, pop-up show, Tavira, Portugal

Spring 2023, National Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Juror’s Choice Award

Spring 2023, “Myra Wilson and Friends”, Honeyjones Studio

Spring 2023, “Hand Me Down”, Gallery 263

Spring 2023, “100: Commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Attleboro Arts Museum”

Winter 2023 to present, Styylish, antique shop, Belmont, Ma.

Winter 2023, Member’s Prize Show artist talks, Cambridge Art Association

Winter 2023, Members Prize Show, Concord Art Association

Winter 2023, Member’s Juried #2 Show, Concord Art Association

Fall 2022, Roddy Exhibition, Concord Art Association

Fall 2022, Lincoln Library, Solo Exhibition 

June 2022, Regional Juried Show, Newburyport Art Association 

May 2022, “Variations” Marblehead Art Association 

October 2022, “BLUE” Cambridge Art Association, awarded Best in Show 

October 2022, “BLUE” Artist Talks at Cambridge Art Association 

March 2022, Cambridge Art Association, Members Prize Show 

March 2022, Cambridge Health Associates, “Meditations From the Quarantine Studio”, solo show 

2019, Cambridge Health Associates, “Free Association”, solo show 

2019, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, “Free Association” 

2018, Open Studios, Cambridge 

2019, Open Studios, Cambridge 

2001-present, Gallery 1581, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis 

 
 

Past Showings 

Concord Art Association, previous juried exhibitions 

Newburyport Art Association, previous juried exhibitions 

Goodenow Library, Sudbury, Ma. Solo show 

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Curator

Fall 2024, Gallery 1581, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, pARTners

Memberships  

Concord Art Association  

Cambridge Art Association 

Newburyport Art Association 

Surface Design Association 

 

Study 

Nancy Gruskin,  Emily Passman, Concord Art Association   

Kimberly Becker, Berri Kramer, Flying With Scissors Studio 

Catherine Kehoe, Jennifer Pochinski, Erin Raedeke, Black Pond Studio 

Matt Klos, Tavira Portugal

Jenny Nelson, online

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