Hometown: Born in Louisville, KY 1975. I divided my childhood evenly between Sweetwater, TN near Knoxville and Hendersonville, TN near Nashville.
Currently Resides: South Florida / Broward Co.
Medium: I love Paint. Water based media, minerals, powdered and liquid pigments, clear and iridescent varnish and glazes - metallic spray paint and collage - on canvas, on panel , on paper.
Artist Hero: Niki de Saint Phalle.
Also I learned a lot about teaching painting from Sandra Reed at Savannah College of Art and Design and Jo Shan Ma, her assistant.
Paintings and Drawings I enjoy looking at:
Puvis De Chavannes, Paula Rego, Turner, Redon, Rossetti, Hans Hoffman, Ignes, anybody's sketchbooks.
Medium: I love Paint. Water based media, minerals, powdered and liquid pigments, clear and iridescent varnish and glazes - metallic spray paint and collage - on canvas, on panel , on paper.
Artist Hero: Niki de Saint Phalle.
Also I learned a lot about teaching painting from Sandra Reed at Savannah College of Art and Design and Jo Shan Ma, her assistant.
Paintings and Drawings I enjoy looking at:
Puvis De Chavannes, Paula Rego, Turner, Redon, Rossetti, Hans Hoffman, Ignes, anybody's sketchbooks.
What's your studio like? Chaotic at the moment.
What are you currently working on? I've really been experimenting with powerful "transient" pigments that can only be covered up with mediums that resist from the backside of a layer. Pigments that rise to the surface, so the first layer of the painting is very important (as it continues to bleed to the surface throughout the process.) Sometimes I collage with pre-dried pieces of acrylic paint scraped from a glass surface. The dried paint stops the bleeding. I used batik dye and wax with ceramic glaze the other day, that was interesting.
What are you currently reading? Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education, Studios by the Sea: Artists of Long Island's East End (Hardcover) and Primary Colours by Serena Mann.
What are you currently listening to? My wife is from Barbados in the Caribbean. And has introduced to me (over 14 years) a fascinating array of old reggae, calypso, and Caribbean folk music. This is my favorite right now, but there are hundreds we've collected: "Carry Go Bring Come," by Justin Hinds & the Dominoes...and I love the guitar sound on Eddy Grant's "Do you Feel my Love." I'm desperately trying to replicate it on my set up at home.
I am also addicted to Freshair.org.uk and their August coverage of the Edinburgh Scotland FRINGE Festival! Funny funny funny...and The Charlie and Lola Soundtrack (I am father of 2).
What's your dream project? Aside from what I'm doing now:
Seriously.
1. Starting a Non-Profit that provides Educational / Arts travel for children of low income families in South Florida. It's really difficult to get field trips that leave the state, it is not a small world after all....authentic travel experiences are usually a common denominator in the lives of kids who have grown up to become adults who give back to their own communities - they have a broader world view. It's not enough to escape poverty - inspiring kids to grow up and end it would be great.
2. Building a summer cottage boathouse studio on lake Papineau in Ontario. Sweet. Maybe an Artist in Residence grant retreat. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1915997
Not so Seriously. Slightly more dreamy.
3. My paintings somehow inspire a musical starring John Cleese, Daniel Day Lewis and Judy Dench!!!! That would be super.
4. Appearing on an Episode of the now over "Monarch of the Glen" TV show.
5. Or owning a really small T-Shirt company that uses quirky one liners. Like "I brake for High-lighters" or "Tacos make it easy" with a picture of a bulldozer on both.
Day job:
Art Educator: Elementary Magnet School -
Subject: 3D Art/Murals/Stagecraft - Teaching partnership with Broward Center for the Performing Arts. During the summer, I work at interesting places, like: Children Services Council funded Summer Arts Camps, Lovewell.org, and Multiple Sclerosis Foundation National Headquarters Lending Library - MSfocus.org
What else are you currently working on? Editing a book of travel journals - I'd like to publish it. I've been fiddling with it for 10 years. I wrote it in 1999-2000, on a "round the world" trip with my wife to 12 different countries.
My wife is a photographer, she documented our entire trip with over 5000 photos and 24 hours of video footage. (This was before we owned digital cameras.)
My recent paintings, video collaboration and show are based on one page from the India portion of those journals and the photos.
Also, I recently graduated with a MS Ed. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Nova Southeastern University.
Favorite Gallery? I'm gonna go big and say - AGO in Toronto and National Galleries of Scotland
