I have been calling myself a sculptor for the past twenty-two years. Before I gave myself that honor, I put my time in other occupations with other titles: laborer, musician, social worker and educator.
In the end, they all blended into and informed my art work, but none of them had the hold on me that sculpting has. I am lucky to have found it. It gave me a mid-life re-incarnation rather than a mid-life crisis.
Since I had no formal art education before I became an artist, I knew I had to get some when and wherever I could. Over the years, I was a student at Penland Art Colony, Massachusetts College of Art, Instituto d’ Allende in San Miguel, Mexico, and the Camberwell College of art in London, where I lived for 1 1/2 years in 2000-2001.
My work begins by collecting materials. I usually start by cutting steel into various shapes. It’s an abstract process that leads me down unfamiliar paths.
At the beginning, I have no idea where I’m heading. I weld and bolt and watch what happens. When I want to make the journey more challenging, I add non-metallic materials to the emerging structures.
