Artist Research Statement

I am currently a full professor at the University of Lynchburg, teaching a range of classes in new and emerging technologies and media, to traditional studio methods.

Previous research in Color Science and Digital Restoration in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago and Munsell Color Science Lab at RIT can be found here.

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Thematically, my work is an attempt to raise awareness of the fragility of nature and the human experience that longs to be witnessed.

Addressing environmental and societal issues, this work is a deep investigation into the natural phenomena of our emotional attachment with beauty, love, and connection to each other and our own histories.  In these processes and expressions, I hope to understand the concept of an individual's place in the world, with a particular focus on permanence and relationships, families and their relationship to the environment.  Through a variety of mediums and artistic, chemical and elemental techniques rooted in conservation with respect for senescence and deterioration, I want the viewer to step into the complex notions of identity. 

Impermanence and decay are implicit in our lives and yet we cling to the concert of artificial perfection and youth.  The work asks viewers to contemplate their roles in a broader world, their connection to the global community and the ways in which they construct a sense of autonomy within their unique environment.  Each work grows, strays, decays - integral parts of a cycle which the finished work is shown at the piece’s its height, marking the moment when it is most alive. Process and decay are implicit in this moment. A drawing or a painting in the traditional sense would be too defined. The installations leave the reason and the spirit of the work outside.