My journey to this world of painting has not been very direct. On the way, I taught high school then college in California, Utah, and South Dakota.  My degrees are in English with a linguistics emphasis, but I did also take an art education major as an undergraduate, and I was fortunate to have one instructor, Millicent Henderson, whose instruction in drawing and design kept me sketching the world around me while I did other things for a living.

I live and have a studio in Spearfish South Dakota, located at the edge of the Black Hills. I do business under  the name “Prairie Impressions,” a name which reflects my beginnings as an artist on the eastern side of South Dakota among farms and the best pheasant hunting in the world.  

As suggested by my homepage “Statement,” that dual connection, west and east of the Missouri River, still defines much of my painting. I do limestone cliffs here, glacial lakes there; a smoky bentonite plant here, trucks waiting at a grain elevator there; a fly fisherman on Spearfish Creek here, A farmer climbing into his tractor there. I paint elsewhere--city scenes in Boston, for example, lobster fisherman, Oregon coastal cliffs, etc.--but basically I consider myself a South Dakota painter.

Below is a more formal vita. It’s short. Even though I’ve been around a long time, I haven’t been around as a painter for all that long.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND:

1. •BS, MA, & PhD—all in English (literature w/linguistic emphasis)
   

2. •Second undergraduate major in art
   

3. •Teaching experience at high school and university levels in a range of subjects
   

4. •Extensive inservice and workshop experience
   

5. •Technical and grant writing experience both freelance and  as a state employee
   

PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS OF WORK:

Juried Shows: I have participated in numerous juried shows across South Dakota. Some have been sponsored by art councils (Mitchell, Brookings, and Yankton), some by universities (Augustana, Black Hills State), and some by the Artist of the Black Hills and other professional organizations (Lead, Sioux Falls, Hot Springs).

Solo Exhibitions: I have had solo exhibitions at Brookings, Mitchell, Spearfish, and Yankton. In addition a set of my paintings, accompanied by the poetry of South Dakota’s poet laureate David Allan Evans, have been exhibited in Pierre, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Okaboji (Iowa), and Spearfish.

Gallery Representation: My work appears in two galleries, one on each side of the state: the the Lead/Deadwood Arts Council gallery in Lead and the shop/gallery at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings.

WORKSHOPS CONDUCTED:

I’ve conducted an oil painting workshop about every summer for the last 10 years or so. Most have been week-long events, but some more tailored to local schedules. Likewise, most have been sponsored by a state university or some other state organization, but some have been conducted at the request of a local art organization. 

All focused on painting landscapes on site. Some were more general and directed at beginners or painters relatively new to outdoor painting, others more specific and directed largely at painters with at least some experience. 

An example of each:

“Oil Painting on Location—South Dakota Landscapes for Beginners” at Black Hills State University Visiting Artists Summer Program, June 17-21, 2002

“Oil Painting on the Mickelson Trail” at Augustana College Art Education Institute, July 12-16, 2010