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The artist and his dummy.
I remember as a boy opening an Edmund Scientific Supply catalogue to the page featuring paramecium cultures. The text described an entire world—invisible to the unaided eye—whirling away in a single drop of cloudy pond water. The notion that a complete universe could exist, literally at my fingertips, changed the way that I looked at everything. And it's from this perspective, through the lens of curiosity and examination that I most enjoy peering.
It is my aim, through my work, to offer a compelling reason for others to enter into the investigative process. The scale of jewelry is particularly well suited to this pursuit, allowing me to build dense and portable microcosms that draw one near, engendering intimate interactions.
The visual vocabulary that I choose is grounded in science. It relies on the combination and juxtaposition of industrial and naturally occurring forms such as accreted skins and rivets, or strapped and braced skeletal forms, to create metaphors for growth, decay and repair. These metaphors, I believe, offer insight into the wider and deeper issues that confront, confound and excite us throughout our lives. People should discover more about one of my pieces each time they pick it up.
I have considered myself a metalsmith since 1980. It was in the late 70's, as an English major in college, that I first encountered the field—outside of the jewelry and hollowware that I had seen in shops and stores. There was a class room in the art building (I spent a lot of time in the art building) that seemed to hold some sort of focused excitement for those who were working inside. There was fire and small, strangely specific tools. The ringing of hammers, I think, was the sound that forced me to open the doors.
The fact that metal could be sawn, formed and—especially—forged in a relatively non-industrial place came as a surprise to me. And when I saw that it could be approached in ways that made it look unlike metal, that small almost animate things could be made with it, I was hooked. With a second major in Studio Art, I built a small back bedroom studio, spent some time exploring the very similar field of dental crown and bridge manufacture and worked at the bench in several jewelry stores. In 1984, I followed my wife Kim to Seattle, Washington. We have been here ever since.
- Bio »
- Selected Exhibitions »
- Statement »
- Selected Publications
Magazines
American Jeweler
June, 1999. Ridges and Ripples
February, 2001. Marketing the Mystery
June, 2002. Design Challenge: Buried Treasure
American Style Magazine
Fall, 2000. Jewels of Art
Artisan Northwest
Winter, 2006. With This Ring
Spring, 2006 Small Worlds
Lapidary Journal
November, 1996. From the Inside Out
June, 2000. Granting a Wish
July, 2000. The Many Faces of Shibuichi: Alloying, ingoting and Working with Shibuichi
January, 2001. Metals Magnet
May, 2006. 10 Fortunate Fiascos
Metalsmith
Spring, 1996. Observations
Spring, 2003. Commissions
Winter, 2004. Reviews
Ornament Magazine
Spring, 1996. Exploiting the Random
Books
The Art and Craft of Jewelry Making
2006, Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
Art Jewelry Today
Dona Z Meilach. 2003, Schiffer Publishing, PA.
The Encyclopedia of Jewelry Making Techniques
Jinks McGrath. 1995, Running Press, Philadelphia.
Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing
Tim McCreight. 1997, Hand Books Press, Madison, WI.
The Penland Book Of Jewelry
2005, Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
Rings
Jinks McGrath. 2002, A&C Black, London.
Science Probe
1997, Southwest Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.
1000 Rings
2004, Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
500 Brooches
2005, Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
- Bio »
- Selected Publications »
- Statement »
- Selected Exhibitions
All School Exhibition
2006. Southwest School of Art and Craft,
San Antonio, TX.
Invited Guest Artist.
100 Brooches
2006. Nationally touring exhibition.
Invitational.
Metalisms
2005. Metropolitan State College
Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO.
National Invitational.
Northwest Visits the Northeast
2005. Society for Arts and Crafts, Boston MA.
National Invitaional.
200 Rings
2004. Velvet daVinci Gallery,
touring to Obsidian Gallery, Gallery IO.
National Invitational.
Portals
2004. Central College, Pella, Iowa.
Solo Exhibition in conjunction with
visiting artist program.
Big/Little
2003. Oakland Crafts and Cultural Arts Gallery.
National Juried.
Chess
2003. Velvet da Vinci Gallery,
touring to Vennel Gallery, Scotland,
Crafts and Council Shop,
Victoria and Albert Museum, England.
Invitational.
The Art of Gold
2002. Touring nationally.
Invitational.
Contemporary Metalsmiths
2001. Oklahoma State University.
Invitational.
Marked By Media
2000. Edinboro University, PA.
Invitational.
The Ring
2000. Mobilia Gallery, touring nationaly.
Invitational.
Sweden + USA
1999. Velvet da Vinci Gallery,
touring to Galleri Metallum, Sweden.
Invitational.
Intrusions and Obfuscations
1999. Susan Cummins Gallery.
Solo exhibition.
Icons of the Twentieth Century
1999. Nancy Sachs Gallery, St. Louis MO.
National Invitational.
Torch Songs
1998. Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA.
Invitational. Held in conjunction with
Messengers of Modernism
as a regional component.
Unexpected Settings
1998. Goldman's Jewelers, Seattle, WA.
National Juried. Juror's Choice Award.