Video and Article Credit: Arts in Foggy Bottom Statement
Living life to the fullest is about living through my passion—and not holding back in the face of fear. Life gets away too quickly not to live inside of those moments that make my heartbeat faster. I am pleased to live in this moment by creating what pours out of me through my art.
Some of my several past professional hats have included working in places that many people would not even care to visit. I have worked with gangbangers, murderers, and rapists in maximum security prisons; schizophrenic and mentally disturbed patients in big-city crisis units and hospital emergency rooms; terrorists and warlords in remote and highly dangerous areas in developing countries where even the U.S. military dares not set foot—these are some of the jobs that have given me challenge and insight into myself and human nature.
Creating and fostering working relationships with people has been a big part of careers in ministry, psychotherapy and international diplomacy. Not all relationships are good working relationships. Now as a sculptor, I consider the depiction of relationships as a form of art. Relationships in our lives hold huge importance and dictate much of how our lives flow every day. By "relationship," I include connecting to oneself and other beings as well as the Universe on a grander scale. Expressing that relevance as abstract sculpture challenges and inspires me and allows me to see that relationships of all forms create the balance and dynamic tension in our world. Creating sculptures that suggest a bit about the dynamics of how we humans relate to the world around us gives me a sense of accomplishing something worth doing.
Creativity is one of the aspects that I most value about who I am. I started woodworking at age five. Since then I have enjoyed many years of creating in wood—unique furniture and sculpture. As a young adult I added metal sculpting to my repertoire. I greatly enjoy foundry casting in bronze, and aluminum, and welding in steel. My style is contemporary abstract.
The earth is our precious home. Stuff never goes "away." Much of the materials used in these works is salvaged or recycled.
