ARTIST STATEMENTI find myself drawn to desolate landscapes. While walking in a clear-cut area or parking lot at dusk, a kind of peace intertwined with melancholy exists. Simultaneous feeling of damage and anxiety are accompanied by a beautiful melody. The melody prevails but not without the price of the Garden lost The landscape left behinds holds symbols of the experience. I recognize these symbols intuitively-the process that alters this outer landscape also changes the inner one. The surrounding desolation becomes alive with new growth from nature and human condition. Destruction cannot escape creation. The delicate properties of watercolor, gouache/ paper compliment my feelings of wistfulness about nature. While the media/ patterns make up the skin of my construction, the shapes generate specific meaning and provide a formal platform giving the images/ symbols clarity, dimension and solidity. By making paintings constructions, I take part in the restoration process in a physical and spiritual sense.SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2018 George Billis NYC, Summer Group Show, NYC. 2018 Out On A Limb, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI. 2018 Birds Of A Feather, Douglas, MI. 2017 George Billis Gallery NYC Cityscape Show, NYC. 2017 George Billis Gallery L.A. Cityscape Show VII, L.A.2017 Continuity, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI. 2016 Small Works, Glave Kocen Gallery, Richmond, VA. 2016 Scrabble: A Play On Words, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI. 2015 Works on Paper, Turman Larison Gallery, Helena, MT.2015 Symphonic,Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI. 2014 Between the Boroughs, George Billis Gallery, NYC Industrial Beauty, George Billis Gallery, NYC 2013 Unpremeditated Natures: Russ Havard and David McLain. Gallery 1724 Houston, TX. 2013 Susan Jane Belton, Russ Havard and David Leonard, ArtEssex Gallery, Essex, CT.2013 Cityscape Show III, George Billis Gallery L.A., Los Angeles2013 Are We There Yet?, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI. 2012 Unseen: Glave Kocen Gallery. Richmond, VA. 2012 Still Life: The Painted Image, Washington County Museum, Hagerstown, MD. 2012 City Streets 2, George Billis Gallery, NYC. 2012 Conversations In Color,Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI. 2011 RESONANCE, Meditation Drawings, Olin Gallery, Salem VA 2010 Something to Put Something On, Box 13, Artspace, Houston TX 2010 NEW YORK MOMENTS George Billis Gallery NYC 2010 Gallery Artist: Selected Works:George Billis Gallery LA. 2010 Installation: Red Dot Art Fair, George Bills Gallery LA Miami FL.2010 Installation, ARTChicago. George Bills Gallery NYC/Chicago IL.EDUCATIONMA Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches Texas 1997BFA, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas1993