*This painting is made with salvaged school-grade acrylic paint containing toxic pigments.
After a short period teaching in Pittsburgh's city schools, I decided to attempt to address some of the issues I was seeing the the school systems in my art studio. I would introduce rudimentary mark-making, largely inspired by my elementary students, and use them to create serious subject matter; the things that were plaguing the education system. In 2017 my finger-painting body of work had begun.
Up until 2020, I was making these finger paintings with acrylic paint that I had discreetly acquired because of a district-wide hazmat audit. These paints where "disposed" of because they contained toxic materials no longer approved for classroom use by the regional educational services. I wore gloves when I finger painted.
