‘The Affecter’ was the name given to an ancient Greek artist, a reference to his emotive style. Looking at images of his work led me to think about art, time, and what we are taught about affect. For generations in New England, a primer filled with warnings about the consequences of straying from the Puritans’ path taught reading and writing. This was a child’s first plunge into the emotional world of words. Those taught to read with this primer were also taught what to feel – mostly, fear. That kind of generational emotional framing is in ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, yet another scary old ‘primer’. Some of the titles of my paintings come from those two sources, connecting my history as a New Englander, which was shaped by these kinds of tales, and my work in abstraction, that wordless expression of the hope of an unbounded emotional life.
