
San Diego, CA., me -and my dog, The Afghan Hound, who could run like the wind.
(Photographer R. Forbes. © Smith and Forbes.)
Artist Statement
"I've considered myself an artist since my earliest memories. I love all types of art. My mother was an oil painter so I was always around art books, pastels, and paints while growing up. My mother's father was a sculptor. During my elementary and high school years the city of San Diego, CA where I lived sponsored contests for free summer art lessons. Each school in the city would choose one student's art work to represent them in the contest. I was fortunate in that my art work won three times. Those art lessons at a young age gave me a foundation for my adult art skills and provided me with my first opportunity to have my work exhibited in a contemporary Museum. Later, when I took college level art courses, I was surprised to realize that some of the very same concepts that I had learned in those summer lessons, such as perspective, shading, and contour, were same ones being presented at a college level. I had been given a fantastic head-start on learning about art and how to express my talent with various kinds of materials, as well as working with other students in an art studio setting. I would like to help children have the same opportunity that I had to learn about art materials and art history."