STATEMENTS

For most of the past 40 years I have been making welded metal sculpture, first using steel, then aluminum and finally sheet bronze.  I am continuing to weld, but after having recently taken off a year from making sculpture to concentrate solely on drawing, I have also been constructing works that combine sculpture and drawing, using wood, stone and plastics as well as bronze..

 

Sculpture Process

I work with 1/16 inch sheet bronze, which I heat and hammer on an anvil and into wood concavities. These sheets are then welded into forms, which are in turn assembled to make the sculpture.  I often allow the hammer marks on the surface as well as the welded seams to remain as an expressive element of the work.  The pieces are then treated for color with a chemical patina.

 

Drawing Process

I draw on Rives BFK paper using a large variety of media including pencil, pen, ink, pastel, charcoal, spray paint, furniture dye and bleach.

In much the same way as my sculptures are build of preassembled forms, my drawings are built up with successive layers, in a process that includes both adding on and taking off. I usually work on three drawings at the same time, allowing each to inform me on what marks to make on the other.

The drawings are done as independent works and are not necessarily meant as precursors to sculpture, although they often are derived from the same themes.

 

Recent Sculptures

While concentrating on drawing I became more and more aware of physical materials I was working with, like paper I drew on and the wood, glass and plastics I used to frame and present the work.  This new work is an attempt to exploit those materials to a more sculptural end.

They are an attempt to combine the spatial and structural qualities of my sculpture with the layered and more ambiguous qualities of my drawing.