The Shell Series

As a child, the beach was my playground, and I often collected and painted shells to display along the sidewalks of Provincetown’s East End. This series is both a nod to that time period and a challenge to see if I could paint shells as an adult without creating kitsch. I’ve often chosen to paint on unusual materials if they resonate with the ideas I’m working on, but with the Shell Series it’s been the other way around—the imagery has grown out of the medium itself. Walking the tide line to collect the shells has inspired imagined encounters between humans and the wild & mysterious creatures of the deep. This work also draws on mythology and folklore, and the contours of sea clam, scallop, quahog, mussel, and oyster shells seem to provide a perfect alcove for these metaphorical narratives.

I have often chosen to paint on unusual materials if they resonate with the ideas I’m working on, but with the Shell Series it has been the other way around — the imagery seems to grow out of the medium itself. Walking the beach to collect the shells and often finding them along that delicate line where sand meets the sea inspired imagined encounters between humans and the wild & mysterious creatures of the deep. Although the contours of sea clams shells seem to provide a perfect alcove for these gilded paintings, I have also worked on giant clam, scallop, quahog, mussel, and oyster shells.