Artist Statement: My work comprises both abstracted and figurative imagery executed in a variety of mixed materials, with stone being the predominate medium. Other materials used (usually in conjunction with stone) include foundry cast metals, carved and joined wood, cast and fabricated plastics, cold-worked and kiln-formed glass, cast and carved hydraulic cements, cast/formed paper, welded/fabricated metals, gilding, and found/ assembled objects. More abstracted imagery is worked in pedestal pieces, large freestanding sculptures, and in wall-mounted relief sculptures. The figurative lip series is usually presented in wall-mounted reliefs, deep shadowbox framing, and occasionally as either a pedestal piece or a large freestanding work. The most recently begun series of work comprises pedestal-sized pieces using the imagery of the ship or the boat hull. Each series or each type of work allows me to express aspects of the human condition - the more abstracted works tend to reveal a more universal emotional/rational characterization of subject matter, the lip series tends to allow sensuality, humor, and more visceral expressions, while the ship series delves into personal/cultural memories and emotional journeys. Background: BFA Atlanta College of Art, 1975 MFA Georgia State University, 1990 Visiting Sculpture Professor Cortona, Italy — University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005 Artist-In-Residence Cortona, Italy — University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program 1991, 1997 Visiting Sculpture Professor Imatra, Finland — South Karelia Polytechnic 2004, 2005 Sculpture Instructor — Atlanta College of Art 1986-2006 Instructor of 3D and Sculpture — Georgia Perimeter College 1995-2011 Instructor of 3D and Sculpture — Gainesville College 1999 When I work with cast materials I want the physicality of Artwork: Though I work with molds quite often, I do not cast multiple editions of my work. Each casting is unique and one-off in whatever material I have chosen to cast in the particular mold. Though I sometimes use a mold to cast only once, most of the molds I have made are used a number of times. Part of this is that once the mold is made I can in effect ‘have my cake and eat it too'. All the time and effort to create the mold is not wasted because it allows me to play with many variations on the form and to see how each material brings its own inherent characteristics to the expression of the final sculpture. The castings are always worked to alter the texture and often the shape of the form in whatever the material from which they are cast. In the mold used to cast the lips in ANOTHER 22k PUCKER there have been single castings in wax (for bronze), ceramic, paper, plaster and resin which were each made into unique finished works — only a couple of which were leafed with 22-carat gold. On one of my teaching/working trips to Italy I took this mold with me and in the Cortona sculpture studio I used it to cast a wax model which I then added more wax to widen and enlarge the design. This unique wax positive was then used to make the lost-wax mold in which the bronze element of JUNGLE ROSE PUCKER was cast. Lost wax molds are destroyed when the bronze is removed, so this form has never been cast in any other material. The mold used for the PETIT COUCOU D'OR face has also been used to cast several types/colors of ceramic clays in addition to the plaster used here. Each of these press-molded clay castings were worked after taking them from the mold while still in a soft malleable state so no two were alike. The plaster casting of the PETIT COUCOU D'OR face was cut down after the plaster had set and dried, and then carved to its present unique form before finishing. The ceramic element for TIMELINE: CUPID'S RED REAR is the only cast from a mold which has not been used for any other castings to date, and all the surface texture was worked after removing the still moist and pliable clay from the mold. After the work was fired into ceramic it was cold-finished with applied pigments to color it, and then fitted to the stone backer to create a dialog or context for the different elements. The works which are presented in frames almost always have shadowbox frames made for them from scratch — meaning that I mill the raw lumber into the pictureframe molding, then cut, join, and fit everything together before applying a custom-finish to complement the castings presented inside of them. I consider the frame an integral part of the piece.