Artist Statement

A cross-sectional retrospective in 2022 got me thinking about ways of working that I had left three decades ago. So after 15 years of carving wood, I put my files and chisels away and started making new work reminiscent of an older period. In those fifteen years of wood carving, I gradually removed material revealing fluid organic forms. After carving came a laborious process of hand sanding to a smooth sensual surface. In these works, I brought back to life an inert but once-living material. My new work reprising processes from three decades ago is a reversal of the carving and sanding techniques. My pieces are constructed and after the form is created many layers of paint, saw dust, and other textural materials are applied to create an encrusted surface. The tendency towards working in slow processes gives my mind free rein to contemplate the world on macro and micro scales. Throughout the decades of varied processes, I have maintained a continuous theme through the interface between organic and geometric.