Creating art is a walkabout – a non-linear flow whereby the exploration of one idea may spawn many others. For me, the journey has no predetermined path nor formula, but is a process, an evolution, and an experience.
Bernice Massé Rosenthal
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is where I received my traditional art school training. I was a student of oil painting and print making, with a concentration in sculpture, primarily stone carving. As a fifth-year student, I worked towards and received a traveling fellowship, which I took in Greece. Lots of stone in Greece.
For many years my involvement in the arts was less intense. After some apprenticeship, my energy was directed into my work as a paper conservator in private practice. I was an associate member of the American Institute of Conservators. During this hiatus with my own creations, ideas kept emerging and developing. Inspiration was absorbed osmotically. I never stopped being an artist.
I now find that I enjoy new materials and methods, especially the serendipity of found objects. Many of the techniques I used as a conservator are transferable and easily incorporated in my collage work. I derive inspiration from many places; from the sublime (shapes in nature, aerial views and architecture) to the mundane (stone fences, stains on walls and cracks in sidewalks). They are all exciting and grist for the (art) mill.
Having retired from conservation work, art is my future.