Live and sculpt north of Atlanta Georgia
Education:
1983-87 University of Georgia BFA Sculpture, Painting
1989-91 University of Georgia MFA Sculpture
Currently, my primary focus is on the shapes of
the space created inside and around the sculpture, which correspondingly
develops the shape of the stone. In
previous work this was achieved through constructing sculptures from
multiple elements. More
recently the sculptures are made from a single stone, which has
encouraged more complex shapes as well a more unified piece.
Working in this manner allows directly carving the shape of the
void, instead of assembling the surrounding elements to form a space.
The more recent shapes develop from drilling and carving into the
stone from several sides and angles. When
the holes intersect a new shape is formed and develops as more material
is removed. This yields a
three-dimensional cavern in addition to the simple hole through the
stone. The initial
encounter with the sculpture is that of a simple form, but on further
examination a more complex piece is revealed.
The
metal wall pieces developed as I began to apply sculptural ideas to my
painting process. I was attracted to the immediacy of working with wax as well as
the patinas and textures that were possible in bronze. The initial pieces were rectangles with various textures and
patinas applied. In the
more recent work, the bronze has been drilled and carved to develop
shapes beyond the initial rectangle.
Exhibitions:
2004 Hampton Art Market
Hampton, VA
2002
Darious Gallery Atlanta, GA
2001
Raiford Gallery Roswell, GA
2001
Gallery 10 Hilton Head, SC
2000
Raiford Gallery Roswell, GA
2000
Gallery 10 Hilton Head, SC
1999
Dana Gallery Alpharetta, GA
1998
Pavilion Center Virginia Beach, VA
1995
Georgia Marble Festival Jasper, GA
1993
King Plow Arts Center Atlanta,
GA
1991
State Botanical Gardens Athens,
GA
1991
Gallery 64 Tallahassee, FL
1990
King Plow Art Center Atlanta,
GA
1990
Georgia Marble Festival Jasper,
GA
1990
Piedmont Arts Festival Atlanta,
GA
1989
Crealde Art Center Winter
Park, FL
1989
Georgia Marble Festival Jasper,
GA
91,94,97,99
Studio Leonardi
Querceta, Italy
I have not written an elaborate treatise about my work as each viewer
brings his or her own interpretation and hopefully each piece speaks for
itself. Instead of blathering on about my work, I'll blather about other
stuff, which might explain my sculpture process or at least provide some
entertainment. I live north of Atlanta where I can make a racket
and the horses and cows don't seem to mind. I try to go to Italy every few years for marble and to work around
other artists. I generally work in a studio in Querceta, which is deep
in the heart of the stone industry and also happens to be on the
Riviera. Damn! There are other towns one can carve in, but after
exhaustive research, I found that Querceta has the best studio to gelato
ratio. On my first trip to the region I was fortunate enough to live in
the stone fort that overlooked the town of Pietrasanta. Of course I
lived in the attic, and the shower consisted of a randomly clogging
garden hose next to the goat pen, but hey it was once a castle. I
lived with a highly entertaining family for 8 months and even with the
lack of indoor plumbing and the occasional tripe dinners I would not
have traded the experience. The following trip, as I had grown older and
more delicate, I decided to upgrade. My residence was in a converted
tool shed. The walk to the outhouse was much shorter and I had access to
a real shower sans goats. More recently through the network
of friends, I was able to live in a converted bakery that had it's own
kitchen, bathroom (indoors), living area as well as a bedroom! I almost
didn't come back. Granted it was not the character building experience
of the previous trips, but I think if I get to be much more of a
character someone will lock me up.
To be continued...
