My major subject in college was Mechanical Engineering, and I graduated with a degree in M.E. from the University of Arizona. An engineer as an artist? Absurd!!! Right brain, left brain, etc. ad nauseum. I have found that the connection between the two disciplines is much closer than imaginable. My engineering education and experience have enabled me to design finished work that is structurally sound and durable. My artistic experience has flowed into an intimate understanding of mold making, casting, and machining of intricate mechanisms that most engineers and artists take for granted.
When I took my first sculpture class (part of my mid-life crisis), I knew that I wanted to produce finished bronzes, but I didn't set out to become a figurative artist. As my experience widened, however, I began to gravitate to the beautiful creation that is the human body. My first human-based works were sculptures of faces, mostly bas-reliefs. As my skills developed, I began to do complete sculptures. The pivotal point, when I decided on lifecasting, was when I saw a photo of a sculpture of a famous actress, perfect in every dimension. I knew I had to learn the technique.
I always have an image in mind when I start a lifecast sculpture, but the finished product is seldom very close to the initial concept. Before the cast is started, I know the pose that I want for the model, but when the plaster cast is done, I then develop more in-depth ideas and detailed images of the finished sculpture.
I specialize in creating bronzes of the female human figure, using lifecasts as the starting point to expand into creative art. I am currently working on a series of pieces that are three dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Each piece of the puzzle is hand cut before casting, so each sculpture is unique, one of a kind. Each completed puzzle sculpture is guaranteed to never be duplicated.
My influences are the wonderful science fiction artist Boris Vallejo, comic artists Fastner and Larson, my sculpture instructor Ted Uran, and most of all my loving, supporting wife and daughter. Thanks to all of you.