What is your primary medium?
Well, I think of myself as a mixed media sculptor. So I work with metals, wood, plastics, text images.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Everywhere. A lot comes from music. I'm a big fan of a great turn of phrase. So I will hear some little snippet of a lyric that just lends itself to being built into a sort of a visual. So a lot of things come from music. Every once in a while from a novel, or, you know, just walking around in the world.
What drives you to create?
I was born with it. I'm a maker. Basically, every part of my life is, in some way, creative. So it's the thing I can't not do.
What got you interested in sculpting?
My undergraduate degree is in photography, and I was kind of a tried and true photographer. And then I took a sculpture class. For the university art degree you have to take everything and so I took this sculpture class, and it sparked some interest and I took a second one. I learned how to weld and the very first sculpture that I welded together, I sold that, and it turned a light bulb on for me. When I graduated from school I didn't really want to be a commercial photographer. I wasn't really interested in doing weddings and seniors. I started building furniture and then I just kind of took off from there. As I think back on it, I was always a builder. Like, when I was a kid, it was all about Legos, and Lincoln Logs and blocks, and, you know, building wheelchairs for my Barbies and crazy stuff like that. I actually built a butcher shop out of aluminum foil for my Ken to play. I dunno. I was always a builder.
How important is it for you to have a space?
It's ultimately important. I worked in my little teeny one car garage for about 10 years and that was fine when I was just a welder, when I was just building furniture. But when I went to graduate school I did a great materials exploration and I had studio space at school. Then I tried to add all the materials into my garage and it wasn't working anymore. I just didn't fit there anymore. It took a couple years for me to really figure out “Oh, I'm just gonna have to rent a space, I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and rent a space.” So in 2010 I did that. And I'll never look back.
What's your favorite part of the art process?
I like the starting and the finishing, and I kind of like the labor in between. So you know, the starting is really where all the idea development happens. In the finishing you get that sense of satisfaction. And then the labor is like, you know, you don't have to think about it, right? You just know where to go and you just got to get there. So I really like all the parts.
Are you able to support yourself with your art?
I have a variety of revenue streams. It just depends on the year how much income I make from each one of them. But I've built my life in such a way that I can live it the way I want.
Why is art a worthwhile endeavor?
I think that art is a basic human need. We as a species have had art since we stood up straight. There is no culture in the history of humanity that has had no art, which makes me believe that it is a basic human need, which is really the thing that separates us from the apes, which I don't know, they might have art too. I think otters make art.
What is it like for you to get to teach art?
I mean, I get a lot of satisfaction out of teaching, which was something I didn't know was true for me. I started teaching for the first time basically the first day I started graduate school because I got a teaching assistantship. I had no idea that I was a teacher or that I would be good at it, or that I would like it. I discovered I really love it. I feel like it's part of my Dharma, not only to be a maker, to be a creator, but to facilitate other people in their road towards being a creator. I think it's all one big thing for me.
Are there any Boise specific opportunities you've had?
I made a piece specifically for the Boise Visual Chronicle that is hanging in the Boise City Hall. I have a couple of other pieces that are in City Hall. I have some pieces in the Human Resources office that are very specifically Boise. The one that's in the Boise Visual Chronicle is also very specific, it's called "For the next five exits", and I took a photograph of this sign as you're driving east on i84 that said, Boise next five exits, which I think should actually be seven, which now actually the sign says six, but you know, the piece is called “For the next five exits” and it includes a lot of imagery from Boise, you know, the iconic imagery that we would recognize.
What got you interested in working with metal?
It was really that sculpture class. I learned to weld in sculpture class and then I just kind of went with it. I bought myself a little $100 oxy acetylene torch kit and just started building stuff. I built some great big structures for an installation art piece and then I started building lamps, and then it just kind of went from there. I was primarily a steel sculptor for about 10 years and then I just got kind of tired of it. There was an NPR ad campaign where they had these little sayings on bus benches. The one that was right by my house said; "Are you tired of what you already know?" I drove by that every day. And I was like, “Oh my god, I'm so tired of me.” So then I applied to graduate school, and I got accepted, and that was pretty life changing. It really just altered my view of myself as an artist and it broadened the possibilities for me of the kind of work I could do and the kind of materials I could use. It just kind of expanded my world.
Where did you go to graduate school?
Boise State. I have kids and I'm planted here. At the time I was recently married and my wife owns her own business, and so this was my option. And luckily, I got in.
Do you have any advice for somebody just starting out?
What I always tell my students is “Try, try, try, apply, apply, apply.” And, this is the most important thing, Don't reject yourself, give other people the opportunity to reject you. That really is the best advice.
Do you think art is something you'll ever stop doing?
Artists don't retire. That's not a thing. It's the thing that we can't not do. I have already decided that if I get to the point where I'm old and can't muscle things around anymore that I'll become a painter. Paint brushes aren't as heavy as big sculptures.