Artist's Statement
My ol' man used to say, "Get off your rusty dusty and go outside. Use your head for something other than a hat rack." And as always my late highschool art teacher from Oregon, Niles Martens, still exerts his positive influence on me. Be a student always. Art history tends to rush forward connecting the dots of fame and influence to a supposed summation. I advise going back over that history at a slower pace, sorting through the overlooked works of overlooked artists. A patient rendering of a flower or a child's face fashioned in clay from 2000 years ago can touch me deeply, with unexpected immediacy. These messages enduring over generations help me cherish my own time.
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Biography
I grew up in Oregon, but now have lived in NYC for over half my life. At first I longed for those expansive landscapes, but happily, I was introduced to the wilderness of birds that pass overhead along the Atlantic flyway. In my career as an illustrator I reconnected to the environment locally, nationally and internationally. I'm working where I can to restore the common sense bi-partisan conservation ethic and practice in American politics that existed in the 60's and 70's. The wilderness is far away and at the end of your nose. Yesterday we saw Monarch butterflies flitting over the lawns of Central Park. Each fall, each one you see is returning to those remnant forests of Mexico to over-winter and begin the first leg of their incredible muti-generational cycle. That is a miracle. A miracle like clean air and clean water and clean soil, and I believe, a miracle worth saving. Like my ol' man said, "get off your rusty dusty and go outside...."
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