BIO

Art and creating, especially in three dimensions (sometimes four) has been a lifetime passion for me.  I was inspired as a child by the drawings of Rube Goldberg and often rigged up my bedroom (much to my mother’s frustration) with elaborate schemes to turn off the light switch from my bed at night and rigging up burglar alarm systems in my bedroom.  As a college student at San Jose State College, I found inspiration in the San Francisco Funk Art movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  I was heavily influenced by the ceramic sculptures of David Gilhooly and Clayton Bailey and the beastie paintings of Maija Peeples-Bright of Rainbow House fame.

 

As I got older I decided to hone my technical skills in order to create the works I had in mind.  I took a number of welding classes at a community college in Salem, Oregon.  Taking several theatre costuming classes at the University of Oregon in Eugene aided my use of cloth and pattern construction in a number of my pieces using textiles.  Building and repairing our various homes helped my understanding of electric wiring and plumbing techniques, which I use in many of my projects.  A stint as a clockmaker in my early twenties developed my appreciation for precision and the relationship between working parts.

 

Additionally I’ve had formal training in various art techniques as a scientific illustrator/cartographer during my time as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and interning and working for nearly six years at the U.S. Geological Survey in St. Paul, Minnesota and Carson City, Nevada.

 

Most of my art has its inspiration from my varied and sometimes accidental life experiences.  Working at a cannery in Salem, Oregon inspired a number of kinetic sculptures involving tracks and steel balls.  My self-directed studies of insects as a child and adult led to a series of insect sculptures, one of which still hangs in the life science room of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon. 

 

STATEMENT

My earliest memories were of not fitting into the role that I was assigned by those figures of society that define such things.  These roles never made any sense to me as a child and as I get older, I find the generally accepted views of our society more and more absurd.

 

For a small instance, what makes something beautiful and what makes something grotesque?  Why do most of us consider long hairy legs on an Irish Setter attractive, but the same on a spider a thing of horror?  After all, both can inflict painful bites!

 

In much of my art, I explore this particular absurdity of the human mind set.

 

I also like to involve the viewer directly in the art as much as possible.  This is why my favorite genre of art is interactive kinetic sculpture.  I find this type of art maximizes the relationship between the viewer and the artist.  Which after all, without this relationship, the artist cannot justify his or her existence in the first place.

 

Once in a great while, I find inspiration (or direction) in dreams.  Clockman is the result of several dreams I had beginning on Thanksgiving night 2001. I rarely ignore my dreams, especially when they are as fun as these.  There is no other reason behind Clockman, although I have had a great number of explanations by others.  They are all correct of course.