§ I
Artist Statement
I was born in Hammond, Indiana in 1943. I spent my childhood there, graduating from George Rogers Clark High School in 1961. I then attended the Illinois Institute of Technology, earning a degree in architecture in 1967.
I worked for various architectural firms in Chicago and Madison, WI and for a number of years had an architectural practice in Richland County, WI. I retired in 2014 after working for Flad Architects in Madison, WI where I became a specialist in the use of materials, equipment, and systems used in building construction.
While still working as an architect, I took classes in life drawing, Chinese brush painting, oil painting, printmaking - virtually anything that appealed to me in the visual arts. Added to this was a skill that I developed over many years, that of designing and building furniture. Retirement then gave me the opportunity to more fully explore all those interests. The work displayed here reflects my efforts to develop those skills.
§ II Recurring subjects
Watching, and being watched. Cultural icons as empty vessels — Marilyn, Amy, the Statue of Liberty stranded on Mars. The distance between people, measured in planets or in silence. Materials that carry their own histories, and refuse to forget them.
Technical mistakes become expressive choices. Halftone dots serve both distance and intimacy; water left to run does what intention cannot. The closer you look, the more the image dissolves — into dots, drips, grain.
§ III Method
Every angle calculated. Every cut intentional. Traditional joinery — dovetail, dado, mortise and tenon — serves both structure and sculpture. When the brush decides before the mind catches up, that is also method. The grain sometimes says what the blueprint couldn’t.