| Biography In 1931, I was
born in a small rural town in the San Joaquin Valley of California to
Portuguese Catholic parents. Their parents had immigrated to America in the
late 1800’s from the Azores Islands. My dad eventually moved to the country
where he operated a dairy farm and it was there that I spent my early years
attending school. Right out of high school, I married. After 20 years and
two failed marriages, I returned to Fresno State University where I received
my Bachelor of Arts Degree-Summa Cum Laude. After studying two summers at
the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, I received a Master of Arts Degree,
With Distinction, from California State University in Fresno.
After graduation, I taught courses in drawing and painting at Fresno
State University, Fresno City College, College of Sequoias, Corcoran State
Prison, and at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico.
Finally in 1986, I received a Visiting Artist position with the University
of Georgia, in Athens, Georgia, to teach drawing and painting. During that
time I was invited two quarters to teach for their Studies Abroad Program in
Cortona, Italy where I was very fortunate to visit Rome, Pompeii, Florence,
Ravena, Venice, and London. As an artist, the experiences of traveling in
Italy and teaching for the University of Georgia was the most inspirational
and transformative years of my life.
During my time at the University of Georgia, I discovered that it was one
of the first universities to offer computer imaging. Because of the infinite
possibilities offered by this technology, I turned to digital imaging rather
than painting. When I returned to Kingsburg in 1990, I took workshops on
digital imaging and color management, with digital artist Dorothy Krause at
the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, and at Bennington College, in
Vermont. Her creative approach and influence helped me to make the
transition.
My current work consists of large format inkjet prints done on my 42"
wide inkjet printer. I use photographs, text, and objects that are scanned
into the computer through a flatbed or slide scanner, or downloaded from a
digital camera. The images are printed on a variety of substrates such as
canvas, paper, and vinyl. The pigmented inks are archival.
I have discovered that the computer is a great tool for making art.
However, like any other art form we choose, we must study long and hard to
learn how the medium works. The ideas we choose and how we interpret them,
obviously determines the final output and the artistic merit of the image. |
