Artist Narrative Biography:
The artistic journey is long and winding. Mine has also been improbable. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas in a household devoid of art. No paintings on the wall, no art class in my little country high school, and certainly no family visits to the Met.
But as fate has it, when I was about 10 my dad handed me his camera and named me family vacation photographer while headed to Colorado. I must have taken this honor seriously because that simple gesture ignited a flame for photography and art that still burns in me some 60 years later.
I wound up studying journalism in college and had one photography class. After college, I landed a job as an editor and photojournalist. I was privileged to shoot magazine pictures all over the world. But on the side, I was always experimenting with ways to make photos that looked more like paintings and communicated more than the naked eye could see. My early explorations included multiple exposure, blurred motion, colorization, collaging, painting on photographs and creating photo-paintings digitally.
I also delved into videography, both at work and personally, and went on to earn an MA degree in Video Art and Multi-Media. I only enrolled in one university painting class, but it ignited another art flame that has been burning ever since. I find painting to be the most challenging, exciting, and rewarding trail of my artistic journey. Painting, to me, is sheer joy and gives me mental and spiritual rejuvenation.
My process is to be playful and spontaneous. I approach the blank canvas without preconceptions. The challenge is to stay in the subconscious and not let my conscious mind get in the way. It wants order and sameness. I want something I would never have seen or thought of in my wildest dreams.
I first disturb the white canvas with texture, marks, scratches, paint droppings, spray and whatever else I can throw in. I then spend time discerning what the Universe/Creator reveals. Invariably there are outlines, shapes and patterns that become the first chapter of a painted fictional story. The unpredictability of the painting’s birth and evolution is what excites me. The canvas has a mind of its own. I am only the vessel the painting flows through.
It is not my intent to be rebellious, but my paintings may look like a rejection of the beauty and refined aesthetics that have been a staple of art history. I purposely keep some of the earlier progressions and rawness of the painting visible in the final work. Risk and struggle are a necessary part of artmaking.
Ideally, my paintings are both story and puzzle. I would like my paintings to reveal hidden truths about humanity and our uncertain relationship with the natural world. Just as in life, I believe the beauty in my work is bittersweet … adorned with ambiguity, mystery, and conflict. Alluring but abstract. I am questioning the truth of beauty.
Artist Statement:
I strive for paintings that are raw, energetic, and speak to human experience.
My painting process is to be playful and intuitive. I start with no set idea, goal or direction. I try to keep my conscious mind from getting in the way.
I begin by disturbing the white canvas with marks, patterns, colors and often, texture. I then look for the hint of an image that can be developed. With patient observation, the canvas invariably speaks and gives me direction.
I would be happy to have my art seen as a collision at the intersection of photography, painting and sculpture. I believe it is at this multi-media intersection that “reality” and “fiction” becomes most interesting, and sometimes clear. My images begin with the beauty I find in life, but never end there. Just as in life, the beauty in my work is bittersweet … adorned with ambiguity, mystery and conflict. Alluring but abstract. I strive for images that raise questions about life and the human condition. I am questioning the truth of beauty.
About me:
I guess it’s true that if you live long enough, you get to do a lot of things. Thus, being an inveterate dabbler, I have played in a lot of playgrounds. They include being an internal communications and intranet manager, consultant, marketer, website developer, video producer, book author, magazine editor, photo-journalist, conference producer, radio announcer and public speaker. And now a partner with my wife of Insureous Health Solutions, a life, health and financial products brokerage. In the midst of this work I have raised six children and traveled to 30 countries on five continents.
I spent the bulk of my professional career at John Deere where I held a number of diverse roles including launching John Deere’s internal communication program and intranet, serving as the company’s first manager of environmental and safety communications and authoring an award-winning coffee-table history book, Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey.
I cut my teeth as a writer, photographer, editor and internal communications manager at John Deere, and this carried over after hours. I began to push the photo-journalism I was doing into a serious interest in photography and video as art. I wound up earning M.A. degrees in Journalism and Video Art/Multimedia from the University of Iowa and I continue to work (or play) in the areas of photo and video art to this day. You can see some of my photo-paintings and videos on this site.
My professional profile/resume on Linkedin
EDUCATION
- Video Art & Multimedia, MA, University of Iowa
- Journalism & Mass Communication, MA, University of Iowa
- Journalism, BS, Kansas State University
AWARDS & HONORS
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- Artist Grant, Quad City Arts, Rock Island, IL 2002, 2001, 2000, 1997, 1992, 1991
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- United Way of the Quad Cities Photo Contest, 2nd Prize 1995
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- Quad City Showcase, Davenport Art Museum, 3rd place 1986
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- Artlink Contemporary Artspace, Fort Wayne, IN, award winner 1986
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- Gallery of the Old Post Office, Dayton, OH, award winner (2) 1986
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- Photo Metro Magazine, 4th Annual Contest, San Francisco (CA) 1986
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- Rock Island fine Arts Exhibition, 2nd place 1985
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- Pictures For Organizations book, Ragan Publishing, Chicago 1982
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- Creativity Annual (Gloria Steinem portrait) 1980
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- Gold Quill, International Association of Business Communicators 1978
- Honor Award, Photojournalism, Chicago Business Communicators 1978
SELECTED EXHIBITS & SHOWS:
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- Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition 2002
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- Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition, (Honorable Mention) 2001
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- United Neighbors, Davenport, IA (solo) 1996-2001
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- Art from the Neighborhood, Quad City Arts, Rock Island, IL (group) 1996
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- Rock Island fine Arts Exhibition, (group) 1996, 1994, 1993
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- Photo-Link Internet Website (solo) 1995
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- Quad-City Arts Council (2-person) 1994
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- Artefino Gallery, Charlotte, N.C. 1994
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- NAACP Art Exhibition, Davenport, IA (group) 1993
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- University of Iowa Hospitals, Iowa City, IA (solo) 1993
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- Corps of Engineers, Arsenal Clock Tower, Rock Island, IL (group) 1993
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- CSPS Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA (group) 1992
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- Essence of Diversity, King Center, Rock Island, IL (group) 1992
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- A. Allen Albert Gallery, Palm Desert, CA 1992
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- Performing Arts Gallery, Davenport, IA (solo) 1995,1993, 1991
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- Percival Gallery, Des Moines, IA (group) 1990
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- Beverly Hills (CA) Antique Auto Show Benefit (group) 1989
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- Mitchell Museum, Mount Vernon, Il (2-person) 1989
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- Quad City Arts Council, Rock Island, IL (3-person) 1988
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- Governor’s State University, University Park, IL (2-person) 1988
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- Highland Community College, Freeport, IL (solo) 1987
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- SPE Photography Conference, University of Iowa (group) 1979
- Davenport Art Museum, Davenport, IA (group) 1978