I'm passionate about the deep meaning expressed in a single glance, how the effects of atmosphere color our emotions, and the attempt to illuminate these moments through an accessible artistic language. All my life I have been fortunate to live with musicians. Music and what I listen to while I paint has a significant power over my artistic process, in what inspires me, in the rhythmic motion of the strokes, in the emotions evoked and incorporated into a piece, and is even reflected in the popular song titles of the finished works. I'm also influenced by the paradox of tragic joy that is my Irish heritage. Soon after my first trip to Ireland, a garage sale vintage mirror frame motivated my first landscape. I chose a composition and subject from my travel photos that would suit the large, unusually shaped frame. There's an affinity between my artistic style, the timeless Irish subject matter and these shabby chic frames. I enjoy the feeling of being in touch with the work, and use my fingers to push the pure pigments of pastels or graphite over the entire paper surface in a painterly fashion. I choose to depict contemporary places and people, but my goal is to use skill and imagination to produce works that portray the more enduring qualities of the world and of the human condition. Website: www.amwhitestudio.com Give Peace a Chance Chains Let It Be Yer Blues Imagine The Cork Hornpipe Into the Mystic Here Comes the Sun The Jolly Tinkers Solo Exhibitions 2006 "The White Album", Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL 'Green Groves of Erin', McCord House Gallery, Palos Park, IL, the Beverly Arts Center, Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier, and the Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago, IL 2005 'Passport to Ireland', Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 2000 Celtic Spirituality Symposium, St. Cajetan Church, Chicago, IL Selected Group Exhibitions 2006 Chicago Artist's Coalition Open, Zhou B. Center, Chicago, IL The Last Picture Show, Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL Municipal Art League of Chicago, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago IL Pastels USA, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Auburn, California Strokin, Chicago Pastel Painters Member's Show, Old Town Arts Center, Chicago, IL Pastels Only Invitational, McCord House Gallery, Palos Park, IL Face to Face Portrait Show, McCord House Gallery, Palos Park, IL 14th Annual Artists in Residence Group Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago 2005 Plaza Art Competition, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, IL Chicago Artist's Coalition Open, Chicago, IL Gallery 2005, De Caprio Gallery, Moraine Valley College, Palos Hills, IL Emerald Art, Four Person Show, Beverly Arts Center Gallery, Chicago, IL 13th Annual Artists in Residence Group Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery; Chicago, IL 2004 Self-Portraits 2004, Northwest Cultural Council's International Juried Exhibition; Rolling Meadows IL Sacred Art Juried Exhibit, First United Methodist Church; Evanston, IL Chicago Artist's Coalition Open, Vietnam Veteran's Museum; Chicago, IL Art Comp 2004, Chesterton Art Center; Chesterton, Indiana 9th Annual Artists Who Teach Exhibition, Beverly Arts Center; Chicago, IL Gallery 2004, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL 12th Annual Artists in Residence Group Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery; Chicago 2002 Gallery 2002, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL The 9/11 Show, Fulton Street Gallery; Troy, New York The Art Project, Artists Visions of 9/11; On-line Gallery 2001 I Madonnari Outdoor Gallery Street Painting Festival, Sutherland School, Chicago, IL Gallery 2001, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL Alice and Arthur Baer Art Competition, Beverly Art Center; Chicago, IL Awards 2006 Canson Merchandise Award, Pastels USA, Pastel Society of the West Coast, Auburn, California 2005 Best Drawing, Plaza Art Competition, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, IL Best of Show, Gallery 2005, De Caprio Gallery, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, IL 2004 Honorable Mention, Self-Portraits 2004, Northwest Cultural Council's International Juried Exhibition; Rolling Meadows, IL 2002 Third place, Gallery 2002, De Caprio Gallery at Moraine Valley Community College; Palos Hills, IL Education/Professional Affiliations and Memberships St. Xavier University, Chicago, IL Independent study: Dingle, and Beara Peninsulas, Ireland The Art Institute of Chicago Beverly Arts Center, Chicago Chicago Pastel Painters Chicago Artist's Coalition Fine Arts Building Council, Chicago, IL Teaching Positions Private Lessons, Alice McMahon White Studio, Chicago, IL Pastels for Adults, Beverly Arts Center, Chicago, IL Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier, Chicago, IL Corporate/Permanent Public Collections The Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago, IL St. Cajetan Roman Catholic Church, Chicago, IL Hinsdale Flower Shop, Hinsdale, IL World Folk Music Company, Chicago, IL Thompson - Kuenster Funeral Home, Oak Lawn, IL Alsip-Merrionette Park Public Library District, Alsip, IL AMS Mechanical Systems, Inc., Barrington, IL Donellan Funeral Home, Chicago, IL Fireside Restaurant Beverly, Chicago, IL French Kitchen Restaurant, Chicago, IL Private Collections Various private collections in Chicago, Illinois; Las Vegas, Nevada; Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York; and Dingle and Kinsale in Ireland.