“Please Touch”
                                                                                               
My work as a sculptor and training as a clinical psychologist have had a reciprocal relationship throughout both careers. Graduate training in psychology emphasized scientific methodology, reason, logical analysis and a reliance on empirical knowledge, providing insight into the nature of human sensation and perception, attachment, motivation, cognition and emotion. This has elevated my appreciation for the complex nature of the human condition- not only for individual differences such as culture, personal and familial experience but also for those universal elements which link us all as human beings. I attempt to draw on this experience in creating artistic works which are primarily evocative in nature. I seek to evoke basic human drives and reactions such as: curiosity and the drive for mastery (the need to resolve visual ambiguity and reduce the rise in tension it creates); needs for connection, affiliation, touch and sensuality; and finally, whimsy and not taking oneself too seriously. As a sculptor and clinical psychologist I am committed to increasing the already growing national and international attention to the expanding role and positive impact of the arts in healthcare environments- especially their environmental impact on patients and their families’ experience of care.

Thematically, my work often reflects relationships- between people, forms in three dimensional space or both. I see the ‘subtractive’ process of direct carving as a loose metaphor for some forms of psychotherapy- removing obfuscating layers, to reveal the sculpture or some truth embedded within (ferreting out the ‘signal’ from the ‘noise’).

I use sculpture as a vehicle of self-expression of my aesthetic sensibilities. The choice of wood as my preferred medium relates to its living and organic nature, the diverse challenges of its many textures and grains and its inherent warmth and sensuality which readily invite touch. I approach each piece with both tough- and tender-mindedness. Tough-mindedness is evidenced in technical details such as painstaking attention to wood finishing and removing tool marks, integrity of component forms and the transitions between them, and the use of grain, natural defects and unique features of the wood to enhance the piece’s visual and emotional impact. Tender-mindedness is reflected in the warmth, suppleness and sensual nature of the figures and the use of forms and contours that caress the eye as the viewer traverses a given sculpture’s landscape.

I seek to simplify my subject matter in a way as to capture some essence of the subject and present it in a way which accomplishes the most with the least amount of complexity. The shapes and forms I use are, for the most part, naturally occurring and anatomical and therefore, at least in some sense are familiar to the viewer even though their integration may not always be easily recognizable. I value simplicity in form, efficiency in the use of lines and attempt to portray my subject matter through its fundamental qualities or nature.

Process
I am a direct carver who works almost exclusively in wood albeit on occasion I will cast a clay piece into Hydrocal. I examine raw wood for cracks/checks then study its inherent possibilities taking into account its grain, color, density and any unique defects. I usually begin by visualizing forms I believe are already contained within the wood-using my skills to release them. Main forms are roughed out with an adz/ax or saw then as the concept crystallizes, I use a wide variety of wood chisels, rasps and rifflers to remove waste and refine the forms through a series of successive approximations. Finally, each work is sanded and smoothed with a variety of abrasive tools and papers until it begs to be touched. No stains, dyes or artificial surface finishes are used, only neutral penetrating oils and/or clear wax.