About Me
Sculpting Your Pet is My Passion
-Let me create a beautiful, one-of-a-kind sculpture of your pet that will last forever.
Artist's statement: Regardless of the medium, I believe it is only art which speaks truth that holds a lasting resonance with the viewer. Therefore, I do demand anatomical accuracy from my work. However, since art is an interpretation, I also believe my work is enhanced by incorporating a judicious degree of exaggeration. These are my goals.
About Me
Polymath Artist: I am an award-winning sculptor, illustrator, a former newspaper comic strip cartoonist and memoirist.
I received my formal art training at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. There I studied a myriad of disciplines to include: cartooning, illustration, drawing (all levels), advertising art, design, and sculpture. In addition, I studied human anatomy, physiology and kinesiology for eighteen months which has benefited me enormously in giving life to my work.
Following art school, I served an extended seven year apprenticeship under master wildlife sculptor Bart Walter. I also studied under master sculptor Walter Matia for over one year and briefly under artist Phillip Ratner.
As a result of my years of formal training, professional apprenticeship and consistent work, I've come to understand that creating fine art is fundamentally about developing the ability to see your subject–any subject –without preconceptions or bias. You will be unable to imbue your art with a true sense of life until you have learned to see in this way. To do so, you must consistently observe: shapes, distances (i.e. positive and negative space), mass, movement and symmetry as you sculpt or draw. Creating art is an ongoing exercise in problem identification and problem solving. Your completed work is the result of that process.
In addition to my personal mentors, I've been influenced by: Jacob Epstein, Alexander Pope, Felix de Weldon, Henry Moore, August Rodin, Alberto Giacometti, Bill Watterson, Gary Larson, Jim Unger, Wiley Miller, John Callahan and Berkley Breathed.
Mediums
I utilize clay, wood, granite, marble, graphite and pen.
A Need to Create
My art results from a need to create and the feeling that I'm wasting precious time when I'm not. I create because I can't not create. ...not for long anyway. It's something I am compelled to do.
We are all born with a God given aptitude. Our purpose, therefore, is to identify, develop and share our unique aptitude with others.
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." -Friedrich Nietzsche