ARTIST
News & Ideas
In many of my recent pieces, all or part of the sculpture is seared with a torch. I got some of my inspiration from the Japanese exterior siding technique called Shou Sugi Ban (or Yakisugi) that preserves wood. The type of wood used traditionally is Sugi (Japanese Cyprus). The process involves charring the wood, cooling it, cleaning it, and finishing it with a natural oil. Ever since I was a child, I was absolutely fascinated and enchanted by fire. It serves as an amazing compliment to many woods. Depending on the type of wood, oil, and technique used, different shades of reds, browns, blacks and silvers can be achieved.
Here are a few posts from my instagram showing the progress of the current piece in my studio.
Forward Motion , one of my smaller sculptures is on display at NYC Jewelers on Main Street in Westport . Stop by and take a look. While you're there, tell Morris the owner I said hello!
Special thanks go out to my licensing agent, Ben Gorbaty of O-Tay Inc. for facilitating my cat and dog designs to be mass produced and distributed to the home decor marketplace. The cats and dogs, produced in painted steel, are available in 4 different poses. The collection was featured in Foreside's 2016 collection as well as Demdaco's 2017-2019 "Happy Tails" collection. It was a proud day when I saw my designs hit the shelves!
While touring Italy on a photo scavenger hunt for Michelangelo's Sculptures, 20 years ago, I came upon this bronze sculpture of David by Donatello in Florence. Standing there, admiring the same piece of art was another art student who seemed to also be particularly interested in Donatello's rendition of the great hero. As we stood there discussing the sculptural differences between this and the infamous David by Michelangelo, we came onto the topic of open form vs. closed form. She explained to me that the open form, as it related to sculpture, meant that the sculpture is not a solid mass, but rather has openings in it. The negative space being a vitally important part of the sculpture. It was my understanding that you literally had to have an enclosed hole through the sculpture to qualify it in the category of open form. Technically speaking the techniques used to achieve that shape are more difficult than if you are just doing a surface carving, even in the round, as a typical bust would be.
Love Everlasting was selected to be displayed at the King Low Heywood Thomas Alumni Art Show. The installation displayed the sculpture in its full power, with the interior mounted light offering a splash of light on the wall behind it. The Alumni reception was filled with students and faculty old and new and even a few friendly faces from my class of '95
It is a great honor to announce that one of my carvings in the round, "Cup of Life" was chosen by Arbortech as a second place winner in their annual global woodworking competition. Arbortech's magnificent woodworking tools are invaluable resource to me as a wood sculpture, and being recognized by them for one of my pieces is truly an honor. I know the competition was tough and there were a lot of entries. So "Thank You" to Arbortech and all my supporters for your help in achieving this award. In case you missed my entire sculpture collection on display at this summer's Westport Fine Arts Festival, Love Everlasting will be on exhibit October 17-18 at the King Low Heywood Thomas Alumni Art show during Homecoming weekend. Thank you all for your support and encouragement as I pursue my passion in the arts.
The sculpture collection was the main attraction on the bridge into the festival and were definitely one of the highlights of the festival. Actors and role players took the time to pose, or interact with the sculptures. Kids and adults alike were engaged with the bold figures and abstract forms. As featured in Westport News.
In Episode 17, Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation (An episode that aired February 15, 1988) a group of children were taken prisoner from the starship by an advanced civilization, Aldea. The society had the technical sophistication to provide the daily needs of all the citizens, so they could turn their focus to art and culture. The Aldeans wanted to raise the Earth children as their own, since their technology had unknowingly made them infertile. The children were given skill-enhancing instruments. One in particular was a tool which, when the child focused his mind, enabled him to carve a piece of wood exactly how he envisioned it (in his case a perfect dolphin). Today, with the right tools (Thank you Makita and Arbortec) and the proper technique, I feel like I am almost able to project my vision onto the wood like that young boy did. Here you can see the tool in action! (If only...)
My first carving in the round—and first serious attempt at sculpture—was done in the late spring of 1995, I was a senior at King Low Heywood Thomas High School in Stamford, Connecticut. One of the assignments in my art class was to look through some art books and find a style of art that I liked and to copy it. I dug through the large pile of books sprawled across the art-room table. The covers looked to me like a tumultuous sea of oil and acrylic. Out of all the books there was one on tribal art which stood out. It was full of wood carvings of both native American and African tribes. That form of expression seemed to have a real primitive appeal and it drew me in. I borrowed a set of chisels from my grandfather, grabbed a log off my father's firewood stack, and began to dig in! The end result was a rough Bart Simpson looking head. With these rudimentary tools, (the chisels weren't even that sharp) I couldn't get too deep into the wood, but I did my best with what I had to bring my vision to life. The image of the face seemed to jump out at me as soon as I picked up the wood. The mouth was carved out of a branch that was coming off the side of the log. As I sat out in the courtyard and chiseled and hammered, it felt natural to me and deep inside I knew this was my calling. Over the next several years I began to accumulate quite the collection of chisels, hammers, saws, rasps and files. The majority of my work was done with a hammer and chisels. The finishing was done with a power sander. I carved about a half dozen pieces usually in the size of 1' to 2 1/2' tall. Most of them focused on the face in some sort of distorted way. Many of them were sold to private art collectors as soon as they were finished. I have experimented with other mediums like clay, metal, CDs, and non-traditional materials. Only when working with wood do I feel a sense of connection to the earth and to my natural self.
