After many years of architectural drawing and working with beautiful materials as an interior designer, I will say that design definitely informs and inspires my work as an artist. Using a reduced, simple, geometric structure that refers to the built environment, I’m able to focus on the rich, earthy colors and complex textures of materials affected by weather, wear and age, both natural and those processed by human hands - plaster, steel, concrete, stone. Crumbling walls that have been repaired and repainted many times, faded stucco, cold, sharp blackened steel. My intention is not to render but to evoke sensation and emotion.
I paint intuitively using these sources as starting points to feed my creative process. During the entire course of a painting’s development I am adding and subtracting layers of oil paint and cold wax to create texture and reveal complex color combinations and organic shapes that play against the simple compositional structure. I am thinking and remembering place, experience, emotion until something strong, still and quiet, emerges.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Andrea attended UCLA to study fine art for a short time before switching to “more practical” interior design. She has worked as a designer for over 30 years. Most recently she’s worked for an architecture firm in Seattle on large commercial projects and still does residential interiors independently. Mostly self-taught, she started making art several years ago searching for personal expression through a more immediate and tactile experience. She found that the hands-on approach to making to be very rewarding compared to the somewhat removed process of interior design where the design is drawn and specified and submitted to tradesmen to build. She now is a full-time artist, with a little design on the side.
Andrea has exhibited her work locally at Valise Gallery on Vashon Island and Vashon Center for the Arts.
Originally from California, Andrea now lives on Vashon Island, Washington with her husband, John and cat, Scout.
BIO
Professional Experience
Rockefeller/Hricak Architects, Los Angeles. Interior Designer, 1986-1996
Planning and design, color and materials selection, furniture selection, art placement
for residential and small commercial projects.
ZGF Architects, Seattle. Interior Designer, Associate Principal, 1996-2023
Planning and design, color and materials selection, furniture selection, art placement
for large commercial projects, including higher ed, healthcare and workplace facilities.
Education
UCLA, Majored in Fine Art
UCLA Extension, Interior and Environmental Design, certificate - 1986
Exhibitions
i.e. gallery, Edison, Washington
“Winter’s Teeth” group show, December 2023-January 2024
Vashon Center for the Arts
Summer Arts Fest August 2018
Summer Arts Fest July 2021
Summer Arts Fest July 2023
Valise Gallery
Member group show March 2018
Member group show May 2018
Member group show September 2018
Vashon Allied Arts
Annual miniature show December 2015
Annual Miniature show December 2016
Annual Miniature show December 2017