My first attempts at art were pencil drawings. I liked drawing odd creatures on wheels as I remember. The medium? Backsides of surplus orchestra announcements of my grandfather’s and any pencil I could find. The ones available were always soft black graphite. They were my grandmother’s crossword pencils. She kept them sharp and we used them “all the way up”. I would have been 5 or 6. This took place in a “warm in the winter”, “cool in the summer” cellar that was furnished like a Victorian parlor. It was where I spent many weekends building plastic model kits and watching cartoons while my sister was swimming competitively, year round. We both consider our time with them profoundly important.

I spent my grade school years in the art department focused on drawing and ignoring most everything else. I do remember a spark once in an elective class on Anthropology.

My first formal art instruction was from Atlanta College of Art. Though I was more proficient at flat art skills I gravitated towards the people and energy in the sculpture department. I learned the basics of bronze casting, steel fabrication and blacksmithing. Any one of these could fill a lifetime. I fell for steel fabrication, turning steel mill scraps into sculpture. BFA 1978.

Next I did a short stint in “the graphic arts”. I was already good with technical pens and a stickler for accuracy so I was useful but with no formal graphic art training I felt out of place. Had I not moved on when I did, I would have been replaced by a Macintosh.

I connected with the best local sculptor I could find, Charles Parks. I worked with him for 7 years making all sizes of plaster molds, fiberglass models and finished bronze sculptures. I learned his unique methods through repetition and he instilled in me intangibles that I value to this day.

I started freelance sculpting at two well known companies in the region. That allowed me to make a living but the work was smaller scale than I was accustomed to. I found this work just as rewarding and that my skills were in demand. Thus was the start of a career where scale became irrelevant. Traditionally, most large sculpture starts with a small model. Once its composed it gets enlarged with mechanical assistance.

I’m in my 30th year as a professional sculptor. As of this writing I split time between a good size city studio and a smaller suburban one. I have everything I need to create clay models from HO scale up to 16 ft. Anything larger I get assistance from the foundry where I get my work cast.

Being close to Philadelphia, DC and New York provides me with opportunity for inspiration. Nine out of ten days I’m working on some form of sculpture whether it’s commercial, private or speculative.

Once I decided it was art for me I studied at it hard by doing and got better. Regardless of size or importance, every project in front of me receives the full benefit of my skill, resources and of course my pencils.