About Me
- Home: Harpers Ferry, Iowa
- Born : 1952, Casper , Wyoming
- US ARMY, 1972 -1974
- Bachelor of Science in Business, Upper Iowa University, 2011
Studied Art:
- The University of Iowa, Honors in Undergraduate Printmaking, 1983
- Ellsworth Community College, Iowa Falls, Iowa, 1978
- The University of Minnesota, Summer 1978
- Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 1970 -1971
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Perspective
I use drawing to express a universal reference for dispersal and connectivity. Sometimes this is looked at as push and pull, give and take, or, seemingly, “for every action there is a reaction”. Forest forms highlight my imagery. Trees naturally move outward on a landscape after external stimuli such as light, gravity, or even trauma initiate a growth response. History is charted. It links back to a time preceding man. Forests offer both definition and modeling in the development of human institutions. Understanding growth in trunks, branches, and leaves intuitively offers understanding of life in both shadow and light.
Though grounded in rural America I'm exposed to the outside world through airways, internet, and a whole variety of print publications. My work embraces this. Reflections of current events, economic understanding, or political verbiage is injected in drawing titles. As René Descartes stated, “I think therefore I am” .... I follow with, “I draw because I’m here”....
Drawing
The ink I use is a transparent mixture of finely ground matter suspended in water. Value, tint, shade, and tone get manipulated by varying particle density in liquid. Commercial mixtures, called “India Ink”, are available with ready to use concentrations in both black and colored variants.
I start drawing by brushing or streaming washes over paper. Most of this activity drifts toward unknowns. Liquids find their own level as they are directed around fibers that influence the flow on the surface. This is a micro-reaction similar to that of trees responding to atmosphere in nature. During this process step some of the ink dries up and bonds in place while the rest of the drawing remains wet. Then, waiting for the right timing, I flood clean water over the entire piece to remove any of the pigments that have not adhered. This additional transformation reveals the final marks, line, and context forming a completed work.