Artist Bio
Artistic Background
The following is a brief description of my artistic background.
The University of Michigan opened my eyes to the world of art and self expression. Upon graduating in 1970 I felt driven to pursue life as an artist. I began painting and drawing. After 8 months of doing this and driving a cab I moved to Los Angeles, learned to work in stained glass and took a job working for a small shop in Santa Monica. A year there readied me to start my own studio in Venice where I worked for eight years.
Moving to Maryland in 1980 I began to use wood along with stained glass to make hanging and free standing sculptures. At the same time I continued to do stained glass commissions and some wood furniture. The rigidity of the design demands of using wood and glass together lead me to pursue wood sculptures alone in the mid 1980's.
I studied the human form in life drawing forums and created three dimensional sculptures depicting dancing, reclining, or standing figures.
Next I began using wood in a more two dimensional way to create hanging sculptures which were collages of images. They were organized around themes that were quite diverse. Two were inspired by movies, some by widely used cultural symbols, others were organized around a theme in which I created the symbols.
These two dimensional hangings held my interest for some time, but after a while I branched off into abstract designs using layers of wood and different colors of wood and veneers to depict interacting forms.
Starting in1999 I returned to photography and put together a darkroom in my house.I to bring my interest in composition to the world around me. I looked at objects, landscapes and people and try to frame them in a way that I might have if I were still doing a drawing or putting together elements for a sculpture. The difference is that the objects to be photographed are usually not movable and finding a way to catch them in a way that is interesting requires me to shoot from unusual angles in order to create an image that is striking. It also requires shooting at a time and in a way so that lighting adds an important positive dynamic to the photograph. I shot on the Delmarva Penninsula as well as when traveling in the US and abroad. As photography became more of a commodity instead of an art in the digital age I stopped doing photography as an artist and returned to woodworking.
In recent years most of what I do is work with veneers doing abstract works of art to hang on a wall. The venneers, from around the world, give me the variety of colors and grains to give the work its detail and to distinguish between the layers of the design.
Read MoreThe following is a brief description of my artistic background.
The University of Michigan opened my eyes to the world of art and self expression. Upon graduating in 1970 I felt driven to pursue life as an artist. I began painting and drawing. After 8 months of doing this and driving a cab I moved to Los Angeles, learned to work in stained glass and took a job working for a small shop in Santa Monica. A year there readied me to start my own studio in Venice where I worked for eight years.
Moving to Maryland in 1980 I began to use wood along with stained glass to make hanging and free standing sculptures. At the same time I continued to do stained glass commissions and some wood furniture. The rigidity of the design demands of using wood and glass together lead me to pursue wood sculptures alone in the mid 1980's.
I studied the human form in life drawing forums and created three dimensional sculptures depicting dancing, reclining, or standing figures.
Next I began using wood in a more two dimensional way to create hanging sculptures which were collages of images. They were organized around themes that were quite diverse. Two were inspired by movies, some by widely used cultural symbols, others were organized around a theme in which I created the symbols.
These two dimensional hangings held my interest for some time, but after a while I branched off into abstract designs using layers of wood and different colors of wood and veneers to depict interacting forms.
Starting in1999 I returned to photography and put together a darkroom in my house.I to bring my interest in composition to the world around me. I looked at objects, landscapes and people and try to frame them in a way that I might have if I were still doing a drawing or putting together elements for a sculpture. The difference is that the objects to be photographed are usually not movable and finding a way to catch them in a way that is interesting requires me to shoot from unusual angles in order to create an image that is striking. It also requires shooting at a time and in a way so that lighting adds an important positive dynamic to the photograph. I shot on the Delmarva Penninsula as well as when traveling in the US and abroad. As photography became more of a commodity instead of an art in the digital age I stopped doing photography as an artist and returned to woodworking.
In recent years most of what I do is work with veneers doing abstract works of art to hang on a wall. The venneers, from around the world, give me the variety of colors and grains to give the work its detail and to distinguish between the layers of the design.
