1. Why are you an artist?
I suppose I am an artist because I have practiced art making more than most and I have gotten very good at from an early age. Positive reinforcement, great teachers contributed to my sense of identity as being an artist. I am also someone who enjoys his time alone and pushing and teaching myself. Being an artist is largely figuring out who you are. My art making is connected to the fact that I was brought
up in an atheist household and I am someone with a great curiosity in science, religion, consciousness and nature- in big questions. My art work is an attempt to understand the origins and sources of my own
nature and creativity.
2. Talk about your work. What is your vision?
I have no vision I only have a process. My process is connected to first my body so it is large-scale. It is a response to the size of my energy body. Usually my work is around 6’ X 4’, and on paper. I try to get
out of my own way creatively; I want bigger, at-large forces (nature) to dictate my work’s direction. My work usually starts out as a dance, a release of gestural energy. Then it goes through various stages of obscurity/refinement, action/reaction, etc…
3. Why do you use the color palette you use? Your work has 3-D aspect to it-do you do sculpture as well?
I have shied away from color the more I have found my identity as an artist. For some reason I find (feel) color as extraneous, or as a contrivance. My work is primal and about a battle between energy and matter (form) as is the universe. I only need black and white, and I love charcoal it is so versatile, changeable,
and malleable. Often when I do work in color I feel distracted by it. Distracted from the things my work should be focused on- like more fundamental creative elements. I suppose color just doesn’t come natural to me. Science and physics often describe their work as the study of forces and patterns in space,
my work is very similar, space, volume, depth and concepts of inner/outer are integral to my interests. I have really enjoyed working in both clay and printmaking which both share my connection to a certain physicality and feel-based approach. Ceramic people generally love my work and I have often thought
that I may have been a potter in another life.
4. Give us a few contemporary artists whose work intrigues you (positively or negatively). Tell us why you
chose him/her.
Robert Irwin and James Turrell are two favorite artists that come to mind. Their work is about creating
perceptual experiences for the viewer, tapping into the magic of consciousness, nature and our connection to it. Also I am big fan of Eve Andre Laramee, who combines nature, culture, science and consciousness in ways that just blows me away.
5. Has any great work of Art made you extremely emotional? If so which one and why?
I think the first great Mark Rothko painting I saw in real life; hit me like a freight train. I was hypnotized, I could have just gazed at it for perhaps hours, I felt I was staring into the very soul of an artist.
6. What is the art scene like in Iowa?
The art scene is very limited here in Iowa. There are very few places to show for the contemporary artist.
There is a much bigger scene for regionalism and craft-work. But there is some great artwork being made in Iowa just not enough outlets or support. The Des Moines Art Center is an incredible and important
resource for contemporary art in Iowa, a real jem. Also the ICON, or Iowa Contemporary Gallery is a fantastic place hidden in Fairfield, Iowa. I rarely show in Iowa and have found very sparse support here. On the flip side there is no better place to raise a family. Great education system, plenty of jobs, low crime
and very friendly people.
7. What is the role of the artist in our society?
I believe the role of the artist is to make us look back on the world, ourselves and our potentials(as
people) in a renewed and re-inspired way. Art makes us see what we have come to overlook. As Degas is quoted as saying, “ art isn’t about what you see, art is about what you make others see.”
8. Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?
I know this answer will cause me to flunk most interviews, but I have no clue where I will be in 5 years. It’s been 10 years since I received my post-graduate degree in art and I have taught at six different colleges, lived in three different cities, been interviewed (for jobs) dozens of times, found a full gamut in
life from success to rejection, elation to depression. The art world is not for the unadaptable nor for the thin skinned. You have no choice but to believe in yourself and to persevere. In five years I see myself as continuing to find ways to get better as a person and as an artist.
9.What are your ultimate goals as an artist?
To be an inspiration and to be inspired/ and to connect to others. My dream is for my work to have actual application in the study of creativity and into the processes in nature/consciousness. Realistically though that is just a dream and I suppose it’s the dream of the pragmatic and practical side of me as an artist.
10. What does art mean to you?
That answer can specifically depends on the artist’s interests. But in general art shares what is magical in all of us as humans. It connects us to what’s important, what we value. It teaches us how to live with more connectedness to experience and to ourselves.
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