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Preface: Visual art and language seem to occupy to opposite parts of my brain that resist coming together. I feel that if I talk directly about the process of making art I will sound like a lunatic, but just as words can be awkward to describe a painting so my artwork only points in the direction of something I'm trying to get at. I'm sure it is the same for many people.Making art for me (when it's not just playing and having fun) is usually about exploring some thing/feeling/idea/experience I think is interesting or beautiful and that I want to learn about or try and figure out. I love drums, rhythms, and patterns. The "point" of some of these pieces is nothing more than it feels good for me to make and look at them in the same way it feels to blissfully bang away on a drum. Similarly the reason I make many of these is to explore a certain emotion or state of mind, but not necessarily to illustrate it so I don't know how these pieces come across to others. I'd actually be more interested in other's reactions and what they have to say about them than what I have to say here.
I spend a lot of time studying patterns and designs, such as those on the wings of moths or of dried mud, etc. I say "study" because it somehow feels like research but I'm sure I can't tell you what it is that I learn. Most people will also see in my work the influence of various ethnic art forms. Probably the most obvious (in these pages anyway) is the art of Australian aborigines that I've loved since I was young (as a kid I wanted to be a hunter/gatherer when I grew up). For me these types of art feel related to the designs on the wings of insects and such. Evolving structures and patterns over time.
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Personal stats:Born in 1954 I've grown up and spent most of my life in the Seattle area.
Work experience is a long list of blue collar jobs including underwater welder, pile driver, carpenter, ship builder, gardener, cab driver, and now for the last 15 years a mailman. Also influential were a few years of hitch hiking, freight train riding and general wandering when I was younger.
I don't have any formal art training and perhaps most closely resemble a folk artist in this regard. I did have a joint show in a Seattle gallery with my wife in 1984. My work was most recently shown at the Dimensions Gallery in Bellevue Wa.
A few other interests that compete (sometimes violently) for my time include exploring in the mountains, hang gliding, music, and somewhat intense physical exercise.