Artist Statement

I was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia.

Norfolk is a major railroad distribution center for cargo arriving worldwide by sea. Having the deepest natural harbor on the east coast makes it the perfect hub for shipping businesses and a major US Naval Base.

The kinetic activity there always fascinated me and was a huge influence initially on my photographic work. Getty Images became a client and The Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris requested a sampling of my work for their archives.

This same undercurrent flowed into a passion for steel sculpture later on.

The metal architectonic sculptures/maquettes resulted from years of collecting found metal.

The Art Students League, NYC has been a great center for inspiration.

I’ve won many Grants from The League-most importantly one in a League relationship with the New York City Parks Commission: The Model to Monument Grant.

Process—

My creative process is as follows: metal sculptures are assembled with magnets or bolted-never welded—then photographed. A pastel drawing is then made as an additional reference and perhaps leads to more inspiration. Then the completed piece is disassembled to become another creation at another time.

Magnetite—

Continuing my exploration, another material has entered my repertoire: Magnetite Rock. This rock material is indigenous to the area where I live upstate New York.

Years of quarry work dug to create the massive aqueducts that take water to New York City provided this natural material for my use.

While hunting for the magnetite I bring a magnet with me to test interesting examples and to find which ones have a stronger amount of iron ore. The more iron ore, the more magnetic.

The rocks become sculptures themselves with the addition of metal and magnets. I call this series: “A Collaboration With Nature.”

Magnetite also has some supposed healing quality from the magnetic energy. Reference my “Healing Structure.”

In Progress—

An ice block series has also evolved from introducing water into my work. In my first piece I froze one of my maquettes in ice and watched the melting process. A “time-element” study.

Further evolution of this process:

A “Still Life” series with fruit, vases, etc. frozen in ice and then videotaped while melting.