“Mother Earth is my greatest influence as an artist.”
I started metalsmithing as a hobby after work maybe 12 years ago. I took classes at the local art center in basic fabrication, enameling, and chain making. My job was essentially to break things all day (I was a Senior Corporate Quality Engineer at an audio electronics company) and the metalsmithing let me create things in the evenings. Gave me some balance.
I grew up in Northwest Indiana. After college I moved to Tokyo, then Seoul, then I was kind of a hippie living out of a backpack for a while bouncing around Asia and Europe, and settled in Chicago once I made it back to America. Then around 9 years ago I moved to Columbia.
I work in sterling silver, bronze, and semi-precious gemstones for my jewelry. The whole process, from metals to cutting rocks is messy and gross and the end product turns out so beautiful. I love it.
I never really grew out of that traveler phase. I work anywhere. I've made a lot of my studio mobile and you can often find me designing or sawing out pieces at a state park picnic table. I sell my work primarily at art shows, from Petoskey, Michigan to Miami, Florida and everywhere in between.
Mother Earth is my greatest influence as an artist. I hike, I camp, I kayak, and I take these places and moments and immortalize them in metal and rocks.
I think my work is unique because it's my life. I create miniature landscapes that many people identify with, but they're all from my eyes.
My favorite SC based artist is TomMac Garrett. Besides being a fantastic potter, he's a good friend and I love that his work incorporates images from his farm. He's an innovative artist sharing his unique voice.
I am currently working on a series based on a couple Midlands state parks and you will absolutely see it soon, as it's for the Jasper Project’s April Tiny Gallery Series! I also have shows coming up at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe in Greenville, the Cottontown Art Crawl here in Columbia, and the Fairhope Arts Festival in Alabama.
