My experience as a hospice chaplain was a profound honor and changed my purpose for creating artwork. My recent work is an endeavor to visually realize the subjective, dreamlike narratives of memories and memories. memories, wherein lies the sum of a person’s life.
An “objective” narrative of a major life event will not reveal the role that event played/s in a person’s spirit and self-identity. Thus, my paintings are my own memories and memories of memories. I once heard that the more personal an expression, the more likely it will engage others.
I am captured by figures and the gestures and expressions which reveal what the person is experiencing. Therefore, I am a painterly painter and recently color has played a more active and even central role in my work.
My father, *Hymel Falgoust, was an artist and Professor of Art at Southeastern Louisiana University. He encouraged me to draw and paint as a child. Even so, I did not seriously pursue drawing and painting until after I had earned a B.A. in religion and philosophy from Texas Christian University and an M.Div. from Yale University.
At the Art Students’ League of New York City, I studied figure drawing and anatomy, and traditional painting techniques. Creating art has been crucial to my life ever since. My Dad encouraged me. After I returned from a term in Overseas Ministries (Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo) and engaged two of his colleagues (Gail Hood and Barbara Tardo) to help me create a portfolio for graduate school. I eventually earned an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. Most recently I have studied with Margaret McCann at the Art Students’ League after I began exploring realization of memories in painting.
Another major influence on my art journey are the writings of the theologian Søren Kierkegaard, who explored the spiritual metamorphosis of the self from despair to hope. I am inspired by manty artists, but most especially Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent Van Gogh.
I have made and sold artwork while working and serving as a minister, healthcare chaplain and hospice chaplain (my ordination is in the Disciples of Christ). My work has previously been tonal, employing traditional drawing and painting techniques. I am grateful for my background and continue to paint “indirectly” while exploring color dynamics more deeply.
I live with my husband Alan Cox, a classical musician and composer and our dachshund, Toby, in Poughkeepsie, New York.
