The Blairies

My paintings are little stories. I have studied the Art Masters and have learned their techniques.  I am currently enjoying unlearning all of that…

I try to find the universal themes and symbols that communicate our evolution in present day American society.  I explore the language that distinguishes this time and place with the history of our roots and culture.

Born and raised in Northern California, I went off to college to the University of California Santa Barbara where I received a degree in Psychology with an emphasis in abnormal behavior. I took a part-time job
during the summer of my freshman year working at a school for the disabled and I never stopped.

It is through my experience working and living with people with disabilities for ten years that I realized the power of symbolism and the many various forms that we have as humans, to communicate.

I learned to listen when I would work with people
who could not speak.

I learned to see when I worked with people who
were blind.

I learned that there are universal things, which
speak a language that transcends words.

I found that a simple smile can make a bond
between two people…

and I learned that laughter can heal wounds that
people cannot touch.

I attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California where I received a generous gift from the Shepard Foundation granting me a full scholarship to the university and in 1999 graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Illustration. It was from there my re-learning began.

Now my masters are the 4, 5 and 6 year olds. I
have consulted with many of them to try to re-learn the freedom that I knew
before I became self-conscious and inhibited and trained as an adult.

They all tell me that I still have a lot to learn.