The tradition of painting
door and window screens for began in 1913 in Baltimore when a Czechoslovakian
immigrant painted a screen to shade the fruit at his corner grocery store. By
the 1930s, almost 100,000 painted screens were decorating East Baltimore row
homes. It’s estimated there are less than 3,000 painted screens in use today
and the art is practiced by less than a dozen artists.
Growing up in Baltimore, I
was aware of this art and its usefulness in providing privacy for row home
owners. Longing for my hometown while living outside of the area, I taught
myself this art in 1998.
My style of screens are far
from traditional style. With the a 20 year career in the darkroom of The
Walters Art Museum, daily viewing of the Great Masters influenced in my
personal take on the usually simple style of painted door and window screens.
My screen paintings range in
sizes as small as 4” to as large as 6’. Painting in 2D has given me an
opportunity to showcase my work in gallery settings. Wanting to add a 3D aspect
to my art, I combined my leisure skills in costuming with my painting talents
and created wearable art. With fiberglass screen as my canvas I’ve made gowns,
dresses, corsets, aprons and costumes.
My career is my art and
working with art. When I am
not painting, or creating
costumes, I continue with my photography skills in scanning, archiving and
taking photos.
I remain in museums with exhibition work at The American Visionary Art Museum.
I’ve had 3 exhibits entirely of my work and have been a part of about one show per month for the past 3 years. No awards to speak of other than having been tagged with the title of “The Bad Girl of Screen Painting.
I’ve had 3 exhibits entirely of my work and have been a part of about one show per month for the past 3 years. No awards to speak of other than having been tagged with the title of “The Bad Girl of Screen Painting.
