Art has been a part of my life for a very long time.  My Mom used to take me down the street to a neighbor’s house for art lessons when I was in 2nd grade. In fifth grade, I remember tracing the Sunday comics … then coloring them in with all the wrong colors, drawing outside the lines. My favorite toys were the ones that allowed you to make stuff: Vac-u-forms, Creepy Crawlers, Lincoln Logs, Play-Doh (loved that extruder!), Erector Sets and more. I spent a lot of time building model cars (Ed “Big Daddy” Roth kits were popular) and took a lot of shop classes in Jr. and Sr. High School.  While I finished my engineering degree, I took years of ceramics classes (more girls in the Fine Arts building!) and then married a potter.  Finally decided to learn to weld and make sculptures.

And here we are.

I have a deep curiosity. I love problem solving and having projects, building things. There are many similarities between engineering and art, particularly if you want to build a sculpture or piece of art that will last. You develop skills and a craft. You figure out what it means to be an artist.

My inspiration starts with the world around me, a shape from here, a color there. Insects, rocks, tree bark. Movement and textures. Shadows and negative space. What happens … if I do … this? I make art because it’s not there, yet. Once you are able to imagine something and then bring that vision into the physical world, you’re on your way. There is so much that happens in bringing a piece of art to completion There’s no success like failure: you learn a lot from mistakes and must wholeheartedly embrace those lessons.

And after all that, you may end up with something completely different. Happy accidents, will happen.