THE PUFFIN FOUNDATION GRANT

"LOOKING AT GENTLER TIMES". I am so happy to have received news that I was awarded a Puffin Foundation Grant in support of a proposal to mount an exhibition of paintings comparing farm communities in Western Ireland, particularly Co. Clare, and New England. My goal is to enable people to rekindle their sense of the importance of the core values of innovation and cooperative interaction. My work explores the almost bygone slower pace of living that honors consideration of the environment and what impact people can have as individuals by making responsible choices and leading by example. Society in general seems to have lost sight of this. My paintings, taken as a whole, present a view into the recent past ways of doing things and of going about the business of daily living.

I want to remind people of the value of a human interactive community and a healthy quality of life that is so often missed in these twenty first century hectic and frenzied times of built-in obsolescence and disposable goods. Our society seems to be obsessed with an unsustainable fast pace of living and consumerism. My work suggests an alternative.

I am seeking a venue to celebrate this.