News
New Work/New Shows, 07.26.2008 08:54 pm
I have a drawing in the N.E.W. show at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh, NC. My drawing won a merit award at the show. Check it out through September 25.
In January I will be apart of a two person show at Bottega Art in Wilmington, NC. I will be presenting some of the drawings in the New Work section along with sculptural installation. More info to come soon…
Exhibition, 02.06.2008 12:04 pm
The art instructors at Coastal Carolina Community College (where I teach) are having an exhibition at the Jacksonville Council for the Arts. The show runs from February 7-22. The opening reception is on February 7 from 5-7 PM. Please join us.
Exhibition, 01.13.2008 07:12 pm
I will have a piece in a show called “Space, Place, Life” at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY. The show will open on January 23 and close February 29. Stop by and check it out if you get the chance.
Welcome!, 10.15.2007 12:50 pm
I would like to welcome you to my personal web page. A few notes on navigating the site:
1. You can search the gallery by perusing a specific exhibition.
2. You can also search the gallery by using the keywords at the top of the page
3. If you would like more information about anything on the site, please do not hesitate to ask.
Artist’s Statement
One of the goals I have for teaching Drawing 1 students is to help them translate a 3 dimensional world onto a 2 dimensional piece of paper. This is both harder and easier for the student than people realize.
It is harder because we live in 3-D (actually 4-D, thanks time). Our brains are set up to help us navigate through space. This is why we generally can move through the day with out running into things. At the same time our brains are absorbing information that we want to remember for one reason or another. It could be a funny story, an interesting conversation, the plot to a television show, whatever. This becomes our reality and memory. I have no idea why I can tell you where I was when I purchased Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on tape (it was Record Alley; I rode my bike), but it must be important because I remember it. Conversely, I don’t remember every time my mom has said “I love you.” I would say it is too many times to count. However, maybe, to me, the purchasing of a cassette tape was more important. I am tortured by thoughts like this and I imagine my students are too, even if they are not aware of it.
So at some point, I ask them to record by hand whatever is in front of them at that exact moment. They have to turn all this interior stuff off and just observe. There are days when the interior stuff won’t turn off. Maybe they are caught up in their memories of a fight they had over breakfast or what celebrity is in rehab at the moment. We have to wade through memory and observation to make that drawing right. This is hard.
But it is also easy, because we are used to making a 2 dimensional world seem real. We can go to a movie or watch television and get emotionally involved in it enough that we remember it. We can read a book and the characters come to life. We can look at a 19th century landscape painting and admire it because it looks real. This is a concept that we are all familiar with, all the student has to do now to make that drawing is to do it in reverse. Everyone learns this quickly.
These drawings, paintings, photos and sculptures exist in between those 2 realms, observation and memory. They are initially based off the measures of the sheet music (a translation of 2-D into 4-D), a car manual and daily observations via a journal. They are undoubtedly influenced by my own memories of performing music and the anxiety that caused. There are small memories that are concrete to me. There are large ideas that feel hazier. Two dimensions into four dimensions and four dimensions into two. Which is more real to you?
Thanks for looking and responding.