When fellow faculty member Sarah Bob, founder and director of the New Gallery Concert Series (NGCS), approached me last fall and asked if I would like to be one of the featured visual artists in her 2006 concert series, I asked her:  "Are you serious?"  Sarah answered: "Of course I'm serious.  I love your work and would like you to be one of NGCS's artists for the upcoming year."  Needless to say, I accepted the invite and am thrilled I did.

NGCS presents new pieces of music and visual art, along with the composers and artists who create them.  Its commitment to building a unique community that encourages highly interactive collaborations among musicians, visual artists, and members of the audience, makes the NGCS one of the most refreshing and transforming enterprises of its kind.  As an artist I am continually working with themes of emergence, transformation and realization.  My interests gravitate toward human figures emerging from organic forms.  I like to explore parallels between the human spirit and nature's growth and have their point of convergence stemming from the same life force.

Movement of the body and its energetic intention is another fascination of mine.  Humans are complex beings; multi-dimensional, and our body language is a powerful tool of communication.  Through visual expression of the body's movement, I believe one can witness communication on many different levels.  My hope is to convey some of this internal dialogue through my painting.

For the January 26th NGCS concert, I am working in collaboration with composer Nicholas Vines and focusing on the theme of the body emerging through dance and movement.  My work has evolved since the start of this project.  My initial plan was to focus on the physicality of the body's movement through dance.  However, as my work developed, the vibrant energy of the body wound up doing the dancing, providing its own dialogue.  I've learned that an end or result is never exactly the original goal.  That is what makes creation so thrilling.  I believe in allowing space for the muse to add an element of surprise to one's work.  No matter how precise our intention is, during the journey from the mind to the hand, transformation occurs.

It has been an honor to work with all of the creative individuals involved in the production of the New Gallery Concert Series.  They are a dynamic group of people whose creative scope, depth of artistic comprehension, and willingness to take risks has led them into another successful season.

Please join me, Nicholas Vines, Sarah Bob, and the Radnofsky Quartet for the January 26, 2006 New Gallery Concert @ 7:00PM held at CMCB's Allen Hall:  For additional information please visit the NGCS website: www.newgalleryconcertseries.org