Artist Statement

Having two creative parents (my mother was a metal sculptress, my father an avant-garde composer) made the making of art a compelling and altogether normal endeavor from an early age. I began drawing at age one; carving linoleum printing blocks at age seven; and embarking on the creation of hundreds of intricate wood, cardboard and plastic sculptures from the age of eight.

As a New York City native I met many inspirational fellow artists at the specialized public high school I attended, The High School of Music and Art. But it was not until art college at SUNY Purchase that I found my primary medium, welding.

Since 1980 the focus of my work has been welded sculpture and sculptural furniture, although I continue to paint, draw and pull my own prints. I'm inspired by the great American abstract sculptors of the 20th century, namely David Smith, Mark di Suvero, Isaac Witkin, Beverly Pepper and Simon Rodia. My motivational flow emanates from intellectual desire and curiosity to explore new compositional dynamics. In my work I often seek to express sociopolitical concepts or a narrative idea, within abstract as well as realistic pieces. Ideally I like my audience to experience my 3-D work outdoors, in a public urban site or a nature setting.

I enjoy working in all scales — from tabletop miniatures to public plaza sizes. To keep things diverse I create work in multiple genres and modes, from freestanding sculpture to mobiles to sculptural furniture and accouterments for the home and garden. I strive to create compositions featuring unique spatial relationships, dramatically variant volumes, negative space, and strong — even startling — proportional rhythms. I choose recycled material and found objects primarily because the quirky historical continuum and patina of used things intrigues me.

Since the mid-1980s I have maintained outdoor welding studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn, to which I continuously drag provocative material that I will then cut, bend and weld into the next sculpture or furniture piece.