Where are you from originally?
I am originally from Milwaukee, Wis. But I have lived many places since leaving there, Including Chicago, and New York City.
What is your medium?
I am a Sculptor and all materials are fair game, I do a lot of casting of metals and of glass, But I almost always take a mixed media approach to the work. The combining of the voices found in different materials is a lot of what my work is about.
How has Buffalo influenced your work?
That’s a hard question, Milwaukee, where I’m from, is a lot like Buffalo, I teach at Buffalo State and I travel a lot. It is real hard to separate out what part Buffalo plays in all of that. I have lived here for more than 30 Years so Buffalo is as much a part of me as an thing else in my life. When I am away it is now what I think of when I am away and think of going home.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I am heavily influenced by shape. I see shapes and compositions everywhere. I remember the first time I was in Eastern Europe, shortly after the Berlin Wall fell. Everything was in bad shape; it was like the country had been run by slum lords who cared nothing for it. All the construction done during the communist era was crap and was falling apart, but the old buildings still held their majesty. They were in bad shape but their thick masonry walls and strong design gave then nobility and strength. This became a metaphor for me, of the people who lived there. They were pretty bruised but certainly not beaten. They were strong and resilient and moving forward with things in any way they could. This changed the direction of my work in a big way. I still find inspiration when I travel there. I guess Buffalo is sort of at that kind of pivot point as well. It had a glorious past and some rough times have followed. Now it seems things are happening here, it’s not out of the woods yet, but is showing great promise.
Name an artist (or more) that most inspires you?
There are just so many, too many to name. Rodin is perhaps my all-time favorite sculptor. But then there is Brancusi and Beverly Pepper, Hennery Moore and Duchamp, and Matisse, I once saw a retrospective of his work and found myself tearing up in the gallery from the sheer beauty, Noguchi, Bourgeois. And so many contemporary artists as well Petah Coyne, so many, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Miina Äkkijyrkkä, Chakaia Booker, Anthony Gormely, Cai Guo-Qiang, Folkert De Jong. I am just scratching the surface here, and so many works by artists that don’t have books written about them but are out there making great stuff. I really like art. I come across great work all the time and it is the work more than the artist that makes me want to get back into my own studio and make something.
What is your preferred subject matter?
I like to connect with the viewers. I like to find things that might be important to them. I want to make things that trigger a memory or a new connection. I want them to think about the emotional content of their lives. I like to find a way to talk about our common experience. I want to pull people into my work, to seduce my viewer to become involved with defining the work. I want to create the elements of a narrative and let the viewer use those elements to build their own narrative. There is a story that when Mozart was in his crib, if someone played a major scale on a piano and left off the last note he would be compelled to crawl out of his crib and hit the last note. I want to compel people to find the resolution of the narrative of the work. I sometimes use references common themes of myth, religion, sociological themes, Sometimes I use a figurative or animal reference. Sometimes the work is pretty layered and complex, sometimes real simple and straight forward. The materials I use, Glass, Bronze, Stone etc. all carry their own meaning into the fray as well. I have been thinking a lot about various creation myths and the gods and goddesses that go with them. I am working on some pieces right now and am using the idea of a crucible as a matrix.
How do you feel you can best advance to the next level, or are you most happy where you are now?
I don’t think an artist can afford to be content with where they are. I work in four or five sketch books, back and forth between one and the other, I have so many pieces I would like to make and ideas I would like to follow that I don’t know if I will ever get to them all. I am working with some spoken word stuff right now and am going to produce a video DVD with a performance artist, Billy X Curmano and his band. I have done a lot of public work, but I have in mind some pieces that are pretty iconic, at least I think so, very large works that get to the nature of some fundamental things. I haven’t yet been able to put together the budget for these works, so I guess I have that elusive desire of many artists, a patron with very deep pockets.
How often do you work on your art?
I work almost every day, in my sketch book or in my studio or on the computer arranging things. Art is the sum total of what I do. It is what defines who I am. The only thing I really do outside of my art work is to train my dog and if I get started talking about that I will really ramble on.
What or who first prompted you to venture into the art world?
I believe it is due to genetic damage of some sort. I can find no other explanation for it; I have been making sculpture since I was about eight years old. I still have a piece from back then. A carving made from an old foundry sand mold. There was a foundry of some sort near where I grew up and I would get chunks of resin bonded sand from the trash pile and carve them. “Space Men” were my favorite topic back then. I have had a lot of jobs but never really had another plan, I just always assumed this is what I would do.
Have you been schooled in art? Are you planning on attending art school? If so, where?
I have been to six colleges and have an MFA from the University of Wisconsin. I don’t say everyone needs to get an MFA. Petah Coyne doesn’t have one, one of my favorite professors didn’t have one, but it was really good for me. I had been working in NYC as a textile designer and other things for about eight years and going back
to school really helped me to re-focus. Something I really needed to do.
to school really helped me to re-focus. Something I really needed to do.
Where is your current/next show in the city?
I just took a one person show down that was up in Brooklyn, I currently have some pieces on display in the Museum at Grounds for Sculpture and I am heading overseas soon to do a granite carving at a sculpture park in Latvia. I don’t have anything coming up in Buffalo in the near future. But I like to show here and would be glad to do so in the near future. I think my last show here was at Starlight Studio downtown. I did have a drawing show with local artist Brian Porter last year as well. I am helping to put together a show of sculpture at the Burchfield-Penney in the fall. It is in relationship to a conference I am co-chairing. I hope to have a piece in that show. That will be up to the curator. Beverly Pepper will be in town, she is giving a lecture for the conference. She was very important to the formation of the early collection at the Albright-Knox. She has six sculptures in their collection. She has also been involved in other art ventures in the area. She has a real affection for Buffalo and is looking forward to coming back here. She is 89 and just had a one women show open in NYC This week.
What is the title and theme of the show/s?
I use metaphors that come from various mythologies. One of my favorite recent shows was “Goddesses, Lonely Hearts, and pragmatic Devils” That was at The Center for Iinquiry
Where did you learn your craft?
I am still learning, I learned a lot in school but also on the job. I worked in a decorative brass company if NYC and did Masonry repair for a long time. I have worked in foundries, wood shops, as a designer and so on. I look at the development of the conceptual side of my work as part of the development of the “craft” of being a sculptor, it builds the same way with constant input from a variety of sources.
What book are you reading right now?
I just finished “The Tigers Wife”