ARTIST STATEMENT

I have always enjoyed retreating to a quiet, safe space to work with my hands. After a long, nerve racking commute home from work, I found that I enjoyed my role in the kitchen as “sous-chef de cuisine”. My wife, the chef, would prepare the evening meal as I sliced and diced produce, crushed garlic, peeled shrimp, and deboned poultry and meats.  If I found any bones of interest, they would be set aside to dry in my studio.  I would take pics with my iPhone of any garden plants or kitchen produce of interest. On weekend outings,  I gathered found wood for carving, shells from the beach, and interesting rocks and root forms from the mountains.  Any time I had a three day weekend or holiday break, I would be in the studio.  The collection of unrelated found objects, wood and stone carvings, clay models, and sketchbook journal entries, began a long period of gestation. Eventually, recurring topics and associations began to coalesce into a clear direction .

 

“The Art of Everyday Living” is the theme uniting a series of two and three dimensional works based on ordinary, domestic objects.  In this series there are detailed two and three dimensional studies of indoor and outdoor plants and flowers collected, nurtured, and presented throughout our house and yard by my wife.  Sous-chef by products such as apple cores, bones, okra, bell peppers, and tomatoes provide the subject matter for scratchboard engravings and sculpture. Pies and pastry become alabaster sculptures.  Common household items such as kitchen implements, walking canes, and bow ties are treated as one of a kind, hand carved sculpture in native and exotic tropical hardwoods.