- CV Detail -
EDUCATION
Growing up, I was inspired by art of the human figure. Father drew lifelike portraits. We had books about Renaissance sculptors and painters. Mother told me to copy the masters. In college, anatomy and figure studies anchored my sensibilities.
With few exceptions, my professors were postmodernists, disinterested in figurative art. They said I would never understand abstract expressionism viewing it through a classical lens. While their meaning was clear, it sounded like an incompetence cover-up.
I wanted traditional skills, so I moved from school to school for their figure drawing and model sculpting classes, while studying metallurgy and contemporary foundry techniques. Narrowing the gap between intuitive art making and structured manufacturing, I experimented with ceramic shell used in precision investment casting.
Skipping traditional wax patterns, I dipped combustible assemblages directly into shell slurry and, after burnout, cast them in bronze. Abbreviating a complex industrial process permitted an ambitious sculpture series on consumerism, nuclear proliferation, animal rights, and industrial warfare. Functioning as social commentary, the pieces are visually narrative, allegorical vignettes.
Direct cast assemblage led to another innovation. I designed a cold-process vacuum table for taking molds of found object compositions. Along with rapid plaster casting, I used the molds in conventional lost wax bronze casting and clay slip casting for ceramics. As conceptual art, the machine, the process, and the sculptures assimilate industrial design and manufacturing. Like my direct cast assemblages, they are visual narratives evoking a post-technological society.
Innovating at a university studio on California's inspiring North Coast set the stage for decades of work in technical fine art and photography, and diverse applied arts. I'm revisiting earlier concepts in recent work, interpreting social, political, and environmental changes unimaginable in 1987.
SCHOOLS & INFLUENCES
Northern Virginia Community College, 1980-1981, Associate - Fine Art: Paul Di Pasquale, Faculty (figure drawing); Hank Harmon, Faculty (2D/3D design); Don Brown, Faculty (printmaking). Virginia Commonwealth University, 1981-1982, attended: Bill Hammersley, Faculty (wood sculpting and machining, 3D design, furniture design); Phillip Pearlstein, Visiting Artist (figure drawing and painting). Towson University, 1984-1985, attended: Faculty (figure drawing and modeling). California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, 1986-1987, attended: Mort Scott, Faculty (mixed media sculpting, mold making, metal casting); Allen Mooney, Visiting Professor (metal sculpting and welding); Ellen Land-Weber, Faculty (photography, 2D design); Bella Feldman, Visiting Artist (metal sculpting and casting); Dale Chihuly, Visiting Artist (3D design, glass sculpting and casting). San Francisco State University, 1988-1989, attended: Stephen De Staebler, Faculty (clay sculpting, figure modeling, ceramics).
EDUCATION
EARLY CAREER
MIDDLE CAREER
LATE CAREER
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Growing up, I was inspired by art of the human figure. Father drew lifelike portraits. We had books about Renaissance sculptors and painters. Mother told me to copy the masters. In college, anatomy and figure studies anchored my sensibilities.
With few exceptions, my professors were postmodernists, disinterested in figurative art. They said I would never understand abstract expressionism viewing it through a classical lens. While their meaning was clear, it sounded like an incompetence cover-up.
I wanted traditional skills, so I moved from school to school for their figure drawing and model sculpting classes, while studying metallurgy and contemporary foundry techniques. Narrowing the gap between intuitive art making and structured manufacturing, I experimented with ceramic shell used in precision investment casting.
Skipping traditional wax patterns, I dipped combustible assemblages directly into shell slurry and, after burnout, cast them in bronze. Abbreviating a complex industrial process permitted an ambitious sculpture series on consumerism, nuclear proliferation, animal rights, and industrial warfare. Functioning as social commentary, the pieces are visually narrative, allegorical vignettes.
Direct cast assemblage led to another innovation. I designed a cold-process vacuum table for taking molds of found object compositions. Along with rapid plaster casting, I used the molds in conventional lost wax bronze casting and clay slip casting for ceramics. As conceptual art, the machine, the process, and the sculptures assimilate industrial design and manufacturing. Like my direct cast assemblages, they are visual narratives evoking a post-technological society.
Innovating at a university studio on California's inspiring North Coast set the stage for decades of work in technical fine art and photography, and diverse applied arts. I'm revisiting earlier concepts in recent work, interpreting social, political, and environmental changes unimaginable in 1987.
SCHOOLS & INFLUENCES
Northern Virginia Community College, 1980-1981, Associate - Fine Art: Paul Di Pasquale, Faculty (figure drawing); Hank Harmon, Faculty (2D/3D design); Don Brown, Faculty (printmaking). Virginia Commonwealth University, 1981-1982, attended: Bill Hammersley, Faculty (wood sculpting and machining, 3D design, furniture design); Phillip Pearlstein, Visiting Artist (figure drawing and painting). Towson University, 1984-1985, attended: Faculty (figure drawing and modeling). California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, 1986-1987, attended: Mort Scott, Faculty (mixed media sculpting, mold making, metal casting); Allen Mooney, Visiting Professor (metal sculpting and welding); Ellen Land-Weber, Faculty (photography, 2D design); Bella Feldman, Visiting Artist (metal sculpting and casting); Dale Chihuly, Visiting Artist (3D design, glass sculpting and casting). San Francisco State University, 1988-1989, attended: Stephen De Staebler, Faculty (clay sculpting, figure modeling, ceramics).
EDUCATION
EARLY CAREER
MIDDLE CAREER
LATE CAREER