I have worked in a multitude of mediums and find the most satisfying are materials taken directly from the earth, or directly from a junk pile. I love to scrounge about the country side or cityscape playing with whatever comes to hand.

I started using hay and sticks as an inexpensive material to build life size figures in 1991 in an effort to make a scarecrow. I have made hundreds of figures in this material as it gives one the ability to make a standing, recognizable figure in a few hours, immediate gratification. It’s light, supremely flexible, and strong. A powerful human presence to be put to whatever purpose one decides. They can be dressed or not, gender is flexible and the expressive potential is inexhaustible.  These figures have seduced me into a steady dance with the human form. Each one showing painfully my inadequacies but sometimes blazing forth with a moment of life, a glimmer of recognition. Taking figures from old master paintings, building them and standing in the landscape with them, is a particular pleasure.

I love to carve marble and native stone. The process ever forward. Each hammer blow a chip closer to the edge of the figure. You have to control your power never for a moment piercing the form within.

At my core I’m a painter. My paintings are either automatic, or based on an automatic drawing. I try not to have an image in mind before beginning. Just make some random marks and study them to detect the subject matter.

 

Exhibits

Arch St. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Canal Gallery, Holyoke, MA
Bitten End Gallery, Northampton, MA
The grounds of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
Gallery 19, Pittsfield, MA
Williamsville Inn, West Stockbridge, MA
Santarella, Tyringham, MA
Trade Secrets, Sharon, CT
The Becket Art Center, Becket, MA
Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA
The Lichtenstein Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
Conway Festival of the Hills, Conway, MA
Forbes Library, Northampton, MA
Group W Exhibit 4 Industrial Drive, Pittsfield, MA

 

Workshops

Plainfield, MA
Kinderhook, NY
Wachusett High School, Pittsfield, MA
Becket Art Center, Becket, MA
Lenox High School, Lenox, MA
Berkshire Botanical Gardens, Stockbridge, MA
Lanesboro Elementary School, Lanesboro, MA
Morningside Community School, Pittsfield, MA
Swift River Academy, Cummington, MA
Williamstown Elementary School, Williamstown, MA
Franklin Land Trust, Guyette Farm, Plainfield, MA
Gould Farm, Monterey, MA
Deerfield Historical Museum, Deerfield Mass.
Bullitt Reservation, Ashfield, Mass.

Richmond Garden Club, Richmond, Ma