A Hand-Crafted Life
I have always had a profound interest in hand-crafted work, from my Father’s furniture making to the gifts of tin, silver and wood my Grandmother brought back for me from her twice yearly trips to Mexico.
My Grandfather was a commercial photographer in Milwaukee, WI and although he died just after my birth I believe he influenced my decision to pursue a degree in photography. After receiving a BFA from Wayne State University in Detroit in the early 80’s I did a year of post graduate work focusing on Cliche-Verre, a photo-printmaking process. A long nine years later I followed my heart and moved to a tiny house in the woods of west Michigan where I currently live.
In 2002 I packed the pickup and headed southwest to Taos, New Mexico to immerse myself in a week long tin smithing class. I fell in love with the craft and felt that I had traveled full circle, from Grandfather to Grandmother, from the photographic collecting of images to the hand crafting of designs into metal.
For the next 16 years or so I worked hand drawn, nature themed designs into various metals until the purchase of my first etching press in 2019 and a love affair with pewter sheet that continues strong to this day. My work is inspired by my immediate surroundings and my subject matter and materials consist of leaves, blossoms, seeds, grasses, vines and roots, embossed into pewter sheet and embellished with torch-fired enameled copper tiles.
While I endeavor to explore this world even more intensely through my work I keep in mind the vision expounded by the artisans of the Arts and Crafts Movement—that moral and spiritual uplift will come with the creation of Art by Hand.