Personal Statement

I love Nature. For many years I watched and helped my father and grandfather work in wood. By observing and learning, thinking and searching I found a way to express the feelings and thoughts I have about nature. . .it’s beauty and it’s passages. Woodturning is a natural way for me to combine my capabilities as an artist and a craftsman.

It is said that the hardest task for an artist is to define one’s self as an artist - the ability to explain one’s art is a passionate pitfall. The purpose of any piece may be invisible at the time of creation or it may be a scream of desperation. It may be hidden or intrinsically clear to the viewer. Sometimes so personal - there are no words, other times, deliciously apparent. To evoke another’s feelings for my work would be my greatest achievement.

Working in wood is formidable. It is the “aliveness” of the wood that translates back to me. It has warmth and a certain life form that seems to live on. The wood guides me through each curve and depth. It tells me it’s name and before I am finished, it has let me touch it’s soul. It is a terrifying pleasure to work in wood. To impact my concepts of man upon a surface is to leave my fingerprint in time. From the mind to the hand to the form - it is personal because it is about the passion I can convey.