Posed photographs of groups of people - families, classmates, workers, and
friends - have been the major source of images for my paintings for some
time. These photos appeal to me on several levels.

I am drawn to them first for their shapes and patterns. I love the
repetition of arms, crossed legs, hairbows, shirt stripes. The little
negative shapes between people prompt an almost puzzle-like approach to the
painting, an ambiguity of space. One color may represent background, legs,
blouses, and faces within the same piece. The fact that many of the source
images are black and white allows me to impose my own abstract color without
limitations.

Past the purely visual, the pictures have a tremendous emotional content.
People sit or stand, usually tensed, concentrating on projecting the best of
themselves. They look straight out at you. My photos are from as far back as
the youth of my great-great grandparents, and from as far away as the former
Soviet Union. They are cherished keepsakes of my family and discarded
memories found at yard sales, flea markets, and in abandoned homes.
No matter from what generation or country, be they of ancestors, strangers, or
friends, the pictures describe the same complex relationships, the same
sense of pride.

1993: Aids Awareness Exhibition in prague, Czechoslovakia.