“The inspiration for the motives in my violin came from American Indian pottery designs, including Mata Ortiz, Acoma, Mimbres and Mogollon. The simplicity of wildlife depictions and perfection of geometric patterns have fascinated me ever since I first encountered ancient and contemporary pieces from these cultures. After deciphering the structure of some of the intricate black on white geometric patterns, I realized that drawing the painstaking repetitive details puts me in a state that I can only describe as a contemplative trance. I intentionally wanted to leave a great deal of the wood intact on the front of the violin showing the beautiful spruce grain playing with black and red ink lines”

This gallery shows the painted violin commissioned by the Denver Young Artists Orchestra for the 7th Annual Painted Violin Fundraiser