My life has been influenced and affected by art from an early age. Exploring the ruins of Rome as a young boy, I was impressed by the size and age-old beauty of the broken rock of previous empires. The way nature came back to cover over what was old and neglected and mingle with architectural marble of the past offered incredible views of past and present.
Growing up in a house that was always dominated by painting, sculpture and music became a normal experience for me. Being in the background and hearing great passionate discussions about life and art with jazz music playing helped me develop a language and understanding that I would utilize the rest of my life.
Learning from my father how to create art on the landscape while in high school was very beneficial to my understanding. Viewing telephone poles from miles away and hearing my father describe that the pole diameter should be the size of an arm or leg on a monumental sculpture. This type of perceptive thinking helped me develop a method of seeing as an artist.
Being able to see in the minds eye in full three dimensions has been a great benefit to designing sculpture both large and small. Usually I can see many angles, contours, textures and shapes before I make them. This helps problem solve placement in the environment and the many processes involved in developing bronze sculpture.
I received both a Bachelors and Masters degree in sculpture at Goddard College in Vermont under the English sculptor Peter Ruddick. With Peter I learned the language of the abstract expressionist sculptors Moore, Lipchitz, Brancusi and Gaudia Breshka. In addition we worked with the figure studying Rodin, Michelangelo, Giacometti and others. It is from my experience of carving wood and clay modeling that I have adopted the sculpture method I use today. I combine the traditional process of building up with clay with the process of carving. The set of tools I use are about 70 years old and I received them in the late 70’s from my father. These tools work very well with the hard plasticene clay. Working with form in three dimensions from every angle is what drives me.
