This Gallery presents a range of my work over the years. I hope you will enjoy something from each of the different categories of projects, commissions, bas relief carving and pottery. I have included some of my most recent work. Be sure to check the Store for availability! Open soon, just finishing a few details!
Solel Preschool- Scottsdale, AZ
At Solel Temple Preschool, they provide water fun! The students put on their swimsuits, run around in the water splashing all over and nobody gets in trouble. That's a good recess! They let me design a wall mural to kind of visually lower the temperature of the area, and give the kids something to enjoy. Lots of bas relief carving, good words to read, critters to learn about, and it's ok to get it wet.
Simply Citrus Project for City of Mesa
My first public art project. Huge amount of work, lots of public participation, plenty of opportunity for expression, and squeezing interesting things in unexpected corners! Much of the public participation took place at the Simply Citrus Festival (1999) and I had people come in and help stamp out leaves and fruit, then they got to do their own artwork within certain space parameters. Fun stuff! Then we tore out a grass area, reworked irrigation into a drip system, I formed up the concrete and we poured it, working in styrofoam spacers to inset the tile mosaics.
On a sad note for me, and those who have enjoyed this cozy seating area, I just got word this project is going to be removed soon with the library expanding into the area. Ouch! Well, 2000-2020, that was a pretty good run, art is cyclical. Tell the City of Mesa you want me to do something else for them!
On a sad note for me, and those who have enjoyed this cozy seating area, I just got word this project is going to be removed soon with the library expanding into the area. Ouch! Well, 2000-2020, that was a pretty good run, art is cyclical. Tell the City of Mesa you want me to do something else for them!
Private Commissions
There is a lot to love about being an artist, and one of those things is making things for people destined for a certain location in their home, garden, entryway, business, wine cellar, any special place. I generally get to know clients and what they like, and try to incorporate their interests in a motif with the desired outcomes.
Wall Decor
Sometimes my tile work, carving, pottery, and desire to work with wood, steel, and desert materials overlap, so I end up making things to hang on the wall, accent a stair railing, highlight a coffee cup, or make a security gate special. I often make things which seem to have no purpose, expecting that purpose to present itself eventually, and they become just the right color, shape, size or texture to make a wall piece pop.
Pool Project!
The first row of tiles below, is my first project installed in the pool at our old house. It was a one-lane lap pool and I wanted something different that ran the length of the pool. When I couldn't find anyone that had the same vision, I worked it out myself. Katoosh! It was really fun. This began the start of my career in designing and creating tiles in the opus sectile style.
Carving Bas Relief!
I really like to carve designs into clay. When I carve, the world seems right, and cool stuff appears out of the clay. This is some of my work, with carvings on the bottom of the pots to round out the motif, and other works as single tiles from various projects.
Pottery
I love making all kinds of pottery. Throwing coffee and teacups, trying to get them to wobble and then trying to fix them for that cool magic shape. I like using the saguaro cactus, or aged ironwood surface that's been through a fire and forty Arizona summers to put texture on my cup handles. I throw things knowing that I'm probably going to mess it up, and then hope that whatever I do for damage control will improve the look or create something new and unexpected.
The same goes with glazing the pots, it's a lot of work, and the work leads to the successful pieces. If I save some of it for later in the evening, I have a little beer, or sake, get in the zone, and let it rip, keeping in mind that one drip of glaze can ruin what I was trying to accomplish, and that someone loved the last two bowls I sold, which were both full-on damage control alterations. Have fun!
The same goes with glazing the pots, it's a lot of work, and the work leads to the successful pieces. If I save some of it for later in the evening, I have a little beer, or sake, get in the zone, and let it rip, keeping in mind that one drip of glaze can ruin what I was trying to accomplish, and that someone loved the last two bowls I sold, which were both full-on damage control alterations. Have fun!
