b. 1989
I grew up in rural Pennsylvania where my first inspirations were nature, cows and comic books. At 18 I Moved to Buffalo, NY took a couple of low-paying jobs and urban flotsam entered and influenced my works. Starting college at 21 I received my BFA at Buffalo State College and earned my MFA from UMASS at Amherst, MA.
In the decades since I continued to move; Chicago, Oregon, Toronto, British Columbia, Winnipeg, New Orleans, Alaska, Chicago again …New Hampshire. I took jobs that still were not high paying, but they were all rewarding in other ways; Environmentalist, Peace activist, Director of the largest soup kitchen in Chicago, Program director of a homeless shelter. Along the way were many adventures; piloting inflatable boats alongside aircraft carriers, camping at the Arctic Ocean and watching the Sun never set, climbing mountains, and speaking to assemblies of 500+. All these experiences and sights informed my art. And I was always making art. I’ve had works in the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, galleries in Toronto, Winnipeg, Chicago and more. I’m happy that paintings of mine are hanging in homes across the US and Canada. Other people take better care of them than I do.
“From a theme i return to about once a year or two; a figure unmoored in space. It’s how i feel about making art — no gravity and trying to make order of the elements around me. The results don’t always “work” for me but its okay because i may destroy the painting and use the elements again. All of these paintings have remains of other works.”
Q. If you could offer your younger self any advice at the start of your artistic career, what would it be?”
A. “Don’t be afraid to mess up. Your marks are not precious and beautiful, the important thing is to keep on making the marks.”