RESUME
EDUCATION
1994 Masters of Fine Art Studio Furniture Program, Department of Art. San Diego State University, San Diego, Cal. Studied with Wendy Maruyama
1978 B.A. in Art, Environmental Design San Diego State University, San Diego, Cal.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
1996 Artists Choose Artists. Peter Joseph Gallery. New York
1996 Chair Show 8. Gallery of Functional Art, Santa Monica. CA
1996 Crafts National 30. Zoller Gallery, Penn State University
1996 Conservation By Design.(Traveling exhibition) Museum of Fine Arts, Tuscon. Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Museum,Washington D.C
1995 The Chair Show. Folk Art Center, Asheville, North Carolina
1995 Conservation By Design.(Traveling exhibition) World Forest Center,Portland,Oregon. Illinois Dept of Conservation, Chicago
1995 New Furniture. Simayspace:Design. San Diego,CA
1995 Form, Function, Fantasy. Mira Costa College, Kiruglack gallery. Oceanside, Ca.
1994 Desires. Simayspace:Design. San Diego,Ca.
1994 The Functional MetaDhor. M.F.A Thesis exhibit. Simayspace Gallery. San Diego, Cal.
1993 Conservation By Design. Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art,Providence, Rhode Island
1990 The Ingrained Image. Riverside Art Museum. Riverside, Cal. Invitational
1989 Vidas Perdidas / Lost Lives. Artist Space, New York, N.Y. Installation in collaboration with BAW / TAF
1987 New Furniture. Sponsored by the llan-Lael Foundation and San Diego Home and Garden magazine. Awarded "Best Design of Show"
1985 Future Furniture Newport Harbor Art Museum. Newport, Cal. Furniture and Drawings. Patty Aande Gallery. San Diego, Cal. Solo exhibition
ARTIST STATEMENT
Furniture has the potential of elevating the human condition beyond the mundane. Utility is generally regarded as a liability in the production of Art. I consider the physical, purposeful and sometimes ritual interaction between Man and object as a primary asset in the production of Furniture. A successful integration of utility, form, visual art and content leads to solutions that include the viewer/user as an integral part of the Art experience.
The body of work that I have produced since 1995 has taken the organic world not only as source material, but as source content. Wood metonymically informs us about the ecosystem in which it was harvested. The unrestrained demolition of old growth forests and tropical ecologies has become one of the most important political issues that faces man at the end of the millennium. The incorporation of exclusively unendangered Northern Hemisphere species and plantation grown tropicals in my furniture is political by virtue of solution.
To visually address these issues I have created finishes that may refer to exotic species or suggest new “undiscovered” species. These blatantly faux treatments will often confound the viewer. From a distance one is seduced into believing they are in the presence of exotic, precious and rare materials. Upon closer inspection the viewer may continue to believe the charade or realize that they have been duped. This begins to question how we ascribe value to works of art, calling into polemics of deceitful fakery or admirable craft. To maintain eco-positical integrity, all the finishes are waterbase and low impact on the environment.
As an artist/craftsman, I am interested in the line between good design and Art. The level of Craft and Design in these works is maintained at the service of Art. This body of work has been created as a merger of the various functions of utility, content and decoration, to serve the body, inform the mind and elevate the spirit.