As a child, I planned, assembled and sculpted. Growing up in the southwest’s blistering heat as a fair-headed child (ok, ok…. so nowdays they call me ‘ginger’), staying cool was a necessity more than a pastime. While other kids played in sprinklers to stay cool, I built environments from found objects as protection from the heat. Weeping willow branches, blankets and rope became teepees. Milk crates and broken lawnmowers became hot rod racers so a breeze could cool the driver’s face. Through an intuitive understanding of electronics and lighting, from a vacant car park emerged a disco so my friends and I could play inside. Driven by necessity, my first sculptures emerged.
As a teen in Santa Fe, New Mexico, my attention to detail was honed while learning from an award winning print and design master Jack Mills. These childhood and teenage investigations matured at the University of Redlands. Independent studies in resin casting, metallurgy and machining blossomed into the college’s first self-directed Bachelor of Arts in sculpture. I studied lost wax casting and the secrets of patinas as an apprentice to master sculptor Robert “Bob” Gottschall. Later, as a graduate of Japan’s Waseda University international program, I met a world-renowned Shodo master and studied Japanese calligraphy.
Upon returning to the states, I worked in art direction and set design and was lead scenic painter for a series of television shows. I created digital effects for Fox Sports and Disney. I worked as Interactive Director for Playboy.com, Activision.com and FoxKids.com, creating those clients first web sites.
Not limited by media, I easily jump from the ancient technique of lost-wax bronze to mixed media.
Indifferent to the current trend of digital sculptors who rely on computer-based imagery, I maintain a detailed and thorough understanding of the practice that is a sculptor’s craft; a method of discovery based on what one can create using their hands.
With sculpture that comes alive, I invite viewers to join me in imagining. Life is a sculpture; a fantastic, ever-emerging work of art all by itself. Time is our gift; allowance for the artist to release his work, his life.