A Montana native, I was exposed at an early age to the country-agricultural surroundings and the work ethics fostered by the pioneering emigrants. My childhood entertainment without TVs or computers was self generated, consisting of yard games with the neighborhood kids, horses and dogs. Radio programs with their provocative sounds that created vivid imaginary visual images were the entertainment de jour. College in the late 60’s and early 70’s consisted of general education classes with a math and science focus.
I began my adult working life during the mid-1960’s and 1970’s protest era. The music and lyric poetry of Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, Leonard Cohen and others deeply influenced my vision of the world, as did the space program with the moon landing and the assassinations of Robert and John Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
Some educational journeys start late in life. I returned to Montana State University Billings to explore my world, seeking ways to express the concepts and ideas collected during three decades of working life in various industrial settings. I discovered a way to focus my questions through the lens of fine arts. Initially concentrating on painting and lithography to visualize my questions, and now am exploring the areas of film and digital media to expand my range of possibilities when articulating my questions and observations of life.
Art, I feel, is about more than evanescent visual experiences. I want to create a space in the viewer’s imagination which allows questions of self and the self’s social experiences as these relate to choices, chance and change. I want the work I show to be a form of “mind worm”; a thing which will reside in the viewer’s mind and create a slightly uncomfortable feeling while being incomprehensible enough that the person is unconsciously forced to think about it and question it.