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I was born in Glendale Arizona in 1936 and grew up on a farm. I have been artistically inspired since childhood, and the years of my life have been sprinkled with bits and pieces of artwork since grammar school. My first ceramic sculpture, “Man with a Hole in the Head”, was done in 1961 in an army crafts studio. This was the beginning of my love for working with clay.
Having completed service and getting married, my first formal art education began in 1964 at Shasta College in Redding California in a beginners ceramics class. I knew nothing about clay and spent most of the semester creating a piece called “Thinking Man” which had been in my head for many years. I spent most of my class time working to get a smooth finish on the piece. During the instructor evaluation at the end of the semester I was reprimanded for not being original. I didn’t understand until he took me into the storage room (which I didn’t know existed) and showed me several really bad copies of Rodan’s “The Thinker”, which were nothing like what I had created. Besides learning that art instructors come in all sizes and grades I learned that not all clay had all of that sandy stuff in it - you could get a smooth finish real easy with the right clay!
My next formal education in the arts was in 1989 at the College of Marin Sculpture Studio in Kentfield California, which provided me with an opportunity to create several bronze pieces that turned out to be very labor intensive because I like smooth surfaces. Working with the bronze process was very satisfying. I also did many ceramic pieces in these classes. It was at this time that “Skate-R-Die”, a full size skateboarder, was conceived. This was supposed to be a quick and easy project, but it took two years to complete. I also attended several ceramics classes that re-directed my energies towards water sculpture, which has been the subject of most of my recent pieces. I experimented with bamboo and natural stone and have migrated from ceramics to ferrocement. All of my work since 1994 is in ferrocement with the objective of creating thin-sectioned open pieces that play with water, light and sound.
Some of my ceramic pieces were entered in Marin Arts Association and Marin Arts Council shows on multiple occasions previous to 1994 and I also participated in Marin Open Studios during that period.
I have done several commissions for individuals. None of my sculpture has been shown since 1994.
The SCULPTURE SERIES is shown in chronological order and includes my major work.
The LANDESCAPES SERIES is from digitized photographs taken by Diana and myself. Originally planned to be a series of 95 images with an edition of 9 each, printed on archival canvas using archival inks and framed in barnwood frames. But time is short and only a few were printed and framed. This is where it stops.
The GODSTONE SERIES is one of the limitless emanations of beauty by the creator. These are digitized images of thinly sliced stone. Some of the images have been modified. The initial plan was to also reproduce these on archival canvas, but time is short and sculpture is more important.
The EPPIE SERIES are digitized photgraphs taken by Diana and myself since 1995 of the Eppiphylum that we grow on our deck. Check out the San Diego Eppiphylum site for more information on these beautiful flowers.
We hope you enjoy these images.
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