For better or worse, I got an education in art. I say "worse" because in some ways I think I felt more free when I didn't know anything about art. I am grateful for learning the principles of design, composition and color theory and they have served me well in my professional work and in teaching but art history was a different animal. Years of studying art history initially choked me, and I felt I couldn't do anything without comparing it to some artist or movement.

I was bit of a rebel in college. I painted on trash and did lots of things you weren't supposed to do. Art to me seemed to be about learning rules and then breaking them, so I did. I got myself kicked out of the Senior Honors show for submitting the work I cared about instead of the boring assignments. I decided to have my own show and to my delight most of the top students pulled their work from the honors show and joined with me. The show was packed and caterers and classical musicians showed up unannounced for free. Turns out people support certain rebellions sometimes. My dear mother who was concerned her money had been in support of some art delinquent was put at ease when the head of the department told her how proud she was of me.

When faced with the decision after college to go into fine art or commercial art I took the safe route. My art at the time was very political and greatly inspired by Sue Coe, who critic Donald Kuspit called “the greatest living practitioner of a confrontational, revolutionary art.” Sue lectured at my school and took a shine to me and my work. She told me the promotional poster I designed for her was her favorite and she wept when she saw my work. She had a big influence on me. She sent me artwork and books, and that should have motivated me to take the hard road but I didn't have the courage when push came to shove.

I did manage to keep my rebel edge in advertising and I designed disruptive snowboard brands and had a blast doing it. I caught the attention of a big ad agency and was an art director there for a while. I hated it. It felt like a huge sell-out. I began freelancing for business that made me sleep better at night.

I also started a band with my great friends. The Upsidedown has been a Portland staple since 2003 and we have toured the USA, Canada, and Australia with The Dandy Warhols. We are not a household word but we have had our music placed on shows like: Sons of Anarchy, Ray Donovan, Damages, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Californication, The Resident, Animal Kingdom, What About Brian, Greek, Trauma and numerous times on Life Unexpected. We had busy lives. Fast forward to 2020.

My commercial art business took a hit with the pandemic and so did my enthusiasm to sell products. I started making art for me again. The art work you see here all came from post Covid and is a window into me sorting out what it is to be an artist again. Art history is no longer a hinderance but a new source of inspiration. I study the masters unapologetically and I trust myself finally to move the art forward and to do so with courage and the knowledge that I am worthy so forge my own path in my own time.

Like Picasso, Bacon, de Kooning, Blake and others I draw from the psychology of the day to inform my art. My favorite artists all seem to be interested in the nature of the mind and consciousness. Today modern science and people like Donald Hoffman are changing what we know about the nature of reality. We know that our "reality" is based in human concepts that have evolved over millennia. I am infinitely curious about how we create that reality and my art is almost exclusively about exploring that.

Awards
Kansas City Art Directors Scholarship

Shows
The Unhonorable Student Exhibition