As always, I am grateful for opportunities to propose for various institutions. The work in this gallery was created fully on paper and in a digital world, however it was not funded for completion in physical reality. I am quite fond of these pieces, and some came close to being realized. Continue reading
The Einstein Cafe watercut aluminum, powdercoat, automotive paint 16 ft x 9 ft x 6 in 2010
This project created an outdoor classroom/ study area for the Math Department at Miami Dade College’s Hialeah Campus. This small campus offers an almost family style administration and faculty as mentors to an urban immigrant and first generation American population of young Hispanic students. Many of their students come from local high schools, including the one I work at. I was one of several artists asked to create a proposal for an underused picnic area that used Albert Einstein as a jumping off point.
The result was this collage of images that came from the life of Einstein, from his youth to his enduring legacy of words and ideas. The work is created from water cut 1/4 inch plate aluminum, powdercoated or painted with automotive paint. The work was installed by TM Development, a general contracting firm with a Cornell trained engineer at its helm. The images were drawn, or cut as relief prints, by the artist and then fabricated from the original images. Each of the images was chosen to create a conversation about Einstein that could be engaged through interdisciplinary study, utilizing both Math and other knowledge about this remarkable man.
Stilts and Cranes three watercut sculptures in cypress frame elements, benches, slate black board element, Stiltsville structure with roof 2007
This work was commissioned by Schools of Choice/Magnet Schools for an interior courtyard of one of the oldest schools in Miami Dade County Public Schools. Using the original blueprints from the school district and site visits, I designed an outdoor classroom for approximately 30 students that included seating, a blackboard and sculpture elements. At three of four compass points I placed images of things that could be found at the corresponding compass point: To the East, I made a relief print (watercut aluminum/powdercoated) of Stiltsville and Biscayne Bay that was supported in a structure reminiscent of the Stiltsville houses out on the Bay, incorporating a large natural slate chalkboard; To the West, I made a relief print (watercut aluminum/ powdercoated) of a Sand Hill Crane in the Everglades, a resident of the Everglades’ ecosystem; To the South, in a nod to the rampant construction in the early 2000’s, I made an image of the Construction Cranes that were seemingly everywhere in the sky. Seating was provided near each image on three 12 ft x 12 ft square concrete slabs using concrete pillars (stamped with both Sand Hill and Construction Cranes) and native Cypress plank seats.
A landscape plan with native plants and wildlife attracting, flowering shrubs through the generosity of Rick Yasko, Landscape Architect and Visual Artist. Both the landscape plan and my original design were created to supply an ongoing conversation between this classic 1920’s Spanish Courtyard, the vanishing community of Stiltsville, the Everglades with its indigenous species of wildlife, and the rapid changes to the urban Brickell corridor.
Duty and Remembrance, ID Wall 16 ft x 12 ft x 6 in watercut aluminum with powdercoat 2006
Duty and Remembrance, Towers with Fire Fighter 8 ft x 3 ft x 4 ft watercut aluminum with powdercoat 2006
This two part work was completed for the Florida Keys Council of the Arts and Monroe County Art in Public Places. This piece was awarded in 2006 and completed in 2007. After a site visit, conversations with the Chief, and talks with fire fighters in the Grove, I began my proposal. I combined images of places that the fire fighters frequented while they were off duty with a tribute to fire fighters who lost their lives while they were on duty. The wave elements on the ID wall came from Japanese iconography. The fire fighter with the axe was a portrait that I did of a retiring veteran fire fighter in the Grove. The same fire fighter was my model for the fire fighter at rest, leaning on the tower elements.
INDU Banner mesh banner 60 ft x 16 ft 2007-2008
In 2007 during the frenzy leading up to Art Basel/Miami Beach, Chris Ingalls of Ingalls & Associates offered me a wall. Delighted, I asked “where”? She pointed at the 60 ft x 16 ft wall on the west side of her gallery space. I was sorting and processing the images that were to become the book, INDU: Commensalists and Hand Me Downs, and welcomed the opportunity to create something that would use the space. As is often the case, my projects take a significant amount of time to complete, and evolve as I work on them. This banner preceded the small installation I created for Oregon College of Art and Craft’s 2008 Artist in Residence Exhibition following my residency there in summer 2007.
The echo of the environment surrounding Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (INDU), was evident in the not quite gentrified atmosphere of Wynwood. During installation I saw the inhabitants of Wynwood without the art loving crowds in place. It was a significantly different place. As different as the urban corridor in Northern Indiana between Gary, Indiana and Michigan City, Michigan was from the National Park located just North of I-94. Different struggles with similar attributes made this odd billboard fit right in.
He Said, She Said 9 ft x 12 ft x 6 in 2008
This work came from a very old drawing, carefully preserved in my wallet for almost 20 years. The works both small and large are watercut PVC with fabric collage. It now resides in Gainesville, Florida in a private collection. The smaller work with more intricate collage is approximately 3 ft x 4 ft.
When We Work aluminum, powdercoat, diamond plate 72 inches x 60 inches x 3 inches 2012
This work resulted from earlier calls for Fire Station related artwork, a son who is a fire fighter, meetings with the City of Gainesville Cultural Affairs, and the Gainesville Fire Department. The work is watercut aluminum, diamond plate, and powdercoating.
2008 brought a new wrinkle to my production: Broadsheets. John Cutrone taught an introduction to broadsheets at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts that was anything but beginning. His teaching and guidance helped me to become a part of al-Mutannabi Starts Here group of artists. For more on this, check out the Jaffe website: http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/spc/JaffeCenter/collection/al-mutanabbi/index.php
Another opportunity to work with writers came through the Miami SWEAT Portfolio. A group of Miami writers and artists responded to a call for broadsheet collaborations that responded to the concept of “sweat” in any or all of its permutations. Two meetings at Sweat Records in Miami in 2009 and 2011 provided a venue for the meet and greet between the visual/word artists. The portfolio continues to grow.
The SWEAT Portfolio also introduced me to several writers with national reputations and local addresses. Several years of artist’s residencies have brought a wealth of experience from artists in other disciplines to bear on my practice. I am always amazed and charmed to find that that guy (or girl) who I say hello to at Book and Books in Coral Gables is also a writer. Poet Michael Hettich and I began collaborating as a result of meeting during a SWEAT get together. In 2011 we collaborated on his poem, “Flood.” The effort produced four broadsheets that weave images through this beautiful poem. Our broadsheets were purchased for the collection of Alberto Ibargüen at the 2011 Locust Projects “Smash and Grab” Fundraiser.
Various other works spinning out of public art projects and other ventures are included in this gallery.
Friends and family have brought me to Boone, North Carolina on several occasions. I was a finalist in a call for public art for the AppalCART Transportation System that serves Appalachain State University and Watauga County in the mountains of North Carolina. The work is a result of exploring the area and meeting its residents. The proposal images for the AppalCART Central Station are in the Public Art section of this site.
Linoleum cut prints, black ink on Japanese Paper, editions of 20. C-prints dimensions variable, editions of 20. Metal Drawings, editions of 5, dimesions variable.
This installation was the product of an artist’s residency at the Glen Arbor Art Associaton in 2005 and ArtCenter South Florida in 2006. The work combined all the elements that eventually became the award winning artist’s book, “Right There” (Winner of the 2006 Florida Artist Book Prize).
It combined drawings, prints, an essay, objects and ephemera from the residency, as well as my childhood in Michigan. This window installation was the laboratory for “Right There.” I am grateful to Claire Bruekel for her support and encouragement with this installation. The piece with the yellow background was one of several other spin offs from this original. The extra pieces wound up in “Right There” or other installations.