Work at University of Louisiana at Monroe

My work was selected for a year-long install in the sculpture garden at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Here are some images.

New Exhibit "Connections"

I just set up an exhibit at the University Gallery on the LSU-Alexandria campus. It is entitled "Connections". There will be a reception Friday, February 27th from 6-8pm.

Favorite Artists Part 2

Cornelia Parker (1956-) is a British artist that utilizes the idea of comic violence in her work. Some of her work is the result of explosions. She had the British army blow up her garden shed. She then recreated the explosion in the gallery (see image at left.)






She also ran over a number of silver place settings with a steam roller and suspended them as flat disks.












Andy Goldsworthy (1956-) creates art from nature. His goes outdoors and painstakingly arranges what he finds into sculptural, temporary pieces. He's not out to create new objects, but new ways of seeing what is already there.


In this piece, he has taken icicles and broken them up. They are dipped in water and allowed to freeze together one piece at a time.
Here, Andy has created a woven pattern of sticks in water. The water mirrors the image and it appears to float.

Favorite Artists Part 1

There are a few artists that just blow me away. I have been inspired by these folks in many different ways.

Alexander Calder (1898-1976) created a circus in the late '20's early 30's. It worked in such a way that he would perform it for crowds of people in his apartment. There's a great video about it called Calder's Circus. He also developed the mobile.

Calder was a very prolific artists and a slob.












Tim Hawkinson (1960-) has about as much fun as Calder did. His pieces involve machines, noise, and moving parts. On the left is the "Uberorgan" that he created with a number of bus-sized balloons that operated a light-sensor player piano of sorts. It emits an immense noise, like a fog horn.
On the right is the "Emotor." The self-portrait image has motors attached to each facial expression. The motors are operated by light sensors suction-cupped to a television. So whatever is on TV affects the facial expression.

Archie Bray Foundation

I went to the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana for a three-day workshop with Ron Meyers. I won a grant to go through my school and thanks to the Derby family. It was a wonderful thing, this workshop.
Ron Meyers is a potter from Georgia who makes altered wheel-thrown pieces. Some examples of his work can be found at http://www.terraincognitostudios.com/exhibit_pages/meyers/meyer_pages/meyers.htm
and http://www.ceramicsculpture.com/Pages-Meyers/RM-NY/exhibit.htm.
He is a wonderful man who enjoys what he does and does it well.
I really think this will change my work.


The foundation was a great place. The air was dry and cool, and every where you looked, you could see amazing ceramic pieces from famous artists on the ground, in the bathrooms, shoved into cracks.

A guy I went to grad school with was in the same workshop, Sam Dowd. We had a fun time catching up.

I used to work in neckties. My second semester in college we had a project in Sculpture 2 where we went to a thrift store to buy supplies for a sculpture. I bought 40 ties and decided to make a marionette. It was a success. The marionette "Tiesewn" had a wire skeleton with ties sewn all around it like muscle. It was heavy, but moved like a human.

I focused on painting for a few years in school, then realized that I like sewing ties better. I made one that was almost life-size. I worked on that thing everywhere I went. In brainstorming, I came up with many different varieties and decided that I would make a flying one and some hollow, wearable ones. I had a number of opportunities to exhibit the flying ones; Provo, UT (like the image above;) Alberta, Canada; Wamego, Kansas; and in the public library here in Natchitoches. The wearable pieces were in my first real solo exhibit in Alberta called "Shared."

For the Love of Heads

Here are a few examples of heads. I have always drawn faces. We have a cast iron, cast bronze, watercolor, oil paint, and ceramic. It did have a huge head made out of ties but the file is corrupted.

As a kid, I owned a great book called "People" by Peter Speir. It showcased different cultures throughout the world and celebrates our diversity. There were pictures of different noses, eyes, hair etc. It is still in my subconsciousness. Below is the Amazon link to the book.

I still draw those noses while I'm supposed to be paying attention. http://www.amazon.com/People-Peter-Spier/dp/038524469X/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product