About the Artist

For Jeff,  art is both a creative and an intellectual exercise. He enjoys learning the rules, the norms, and understanding art from  rational, cultural, and logical perspectives.  He also enjoys experiencing the unbound freedom in artistic expression which often defies explanation.  "Creating can be a spiritual practice... a profound experience of present awareness without thought". 

Jeff was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Oregon in 1991.  He paints using both acrylics and oils and draws with charcoal and graphite.  Creativity has been a lifelong passion and has included drawing, painting, photography, guitar, and writing. 

Educated and trained as a clinical social worker, he works as a psychotherapist when he is not painting.  This has given him the unique opportunity to understand himself and others at a level that often cannot be articulated using words.  Jeff believes that abstract art is often a visual representation of unconscious material that needs to be expressed, though not always understood (by the artist or by the viewer).  The desire for this expression can be intense and often the artistic result is unanticipated.  

As an artist, he is mostly self-taught, learning by copying and studying the works of well-known artists, and also taking art classes.  His work has been in a handful of group exhibitions, and he has had two solo exhibitions.  His art can also be found in the homes of many private collectors around the United States.