Artist Statement:
I’ve always made art. From the time I was a little kid, I was always making something. Creativity is a process. As was my life’s journey with creativity. Creativity morphs. Inspiration, curiosity and creativity go hand in hand. They are all much the same words to me. They describe how I to delve deeply into something. The delving is the process. Pushing the limits, exploring, learning. It is all about learning. The day I quit learning is the day I die.
I’ve always made art. From the time I was a little kid, I was always making something. Creativity is a process. As was my life’s journey with creativity. Creativity morphs. Inspiration, curiosity and creativity go hand in hand. They are all much the same words to me. They describe how I to delve deeply into something. The delving is the process. Pushing the limits, exploring, learning. It is all about learning. The day I quit learning is the day I die.
I’ve always made art. From the time I was a little kid, I was always making something. Creativity is a process. As was my life’s journey with creativity. Creativity morphs. Inspiration, curiosity and creativity go hand in hand. They are all much the same words to me. They describe how I to delve deeply into something. The delving is the process. Pushing the limits, exploring, learning. It is all about learning. The day I quit learning is the day I die.
I have a background in painting. Early influences were the gestural painters of abstract expressionism, the ethereal images of American lyrical abstraction, open spaces of minimalism, certainly surrealism, and a good dose of the whimsy created by the funk artists of the late 60s and early 70s. In that group, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning, Rene Magritte, Paul Klee, William T. Wiley. Also, art history classes, being in studio classes, and group critiques. The environmental movement, good science and survival. Spiritual growth, who am I and what’s this all about? Particularly, the spiritual realm. That which is within and that which is the universe, where I am in it and what else could there be when not limited by dogma.
I like Hiking in the Desert
I indeed do like to hike in the desert. It reveals eons of history in simple formations. It can take your breath away with one look and transform your perspective on where you are, here and in totality.
This piece combines woodturning, woodworking, painting and sculpture. The frame, which is traditionally seen as a decorative boarder to hold a painting, is an integral part of the work of art. The carved wood base provides a springboard into the spatial plane of the painting. The painting creates a surreal desert space with clouds painted only on the frame, causing the viewer to realize that the frame is much more and indeed a part of the total work. The stone cairn, a tangible symbol of hiking, guides the viewer on the path into the painting and the desert, in which they can wander and wonder.
Come Sit with Me
“Come Sit with Me” on the bench.
The conversation:
“What are you doing?”
“Contemplating the universe.”
“That’s weird. Where did you come from?”
“Exactly.”
With all due seriousness, please see the cosmic joke in this and smile.