2020

As a stone sculptor, I look to master sculptors to guide and inspire my work. When I study master sculptors, I often draw their portraits, finding that the discipline of drawing sharpens my observation. In drawing Elizabeth Catlett’s portrait, the power of her person and her art came to life for me.
A woman, a warrior for social justice, a creator of great beauty, Catlett’s sculpture - forms created of curves contrasted against hard lines - moves back and forth between abstraction and representation, conveying both the internal and the external of a form. Sculpting in stone, wood, clay, and bronze, Catlett (in the words of Maya Angelou) “makes public the best of our most private selves.”