INFINITE POWER AND INCREASED FLEXIBILITY, 2011
carved pine, yoga ball
JOHN THE BAPTIST MONSTER, 2011
carved oak, Burger King tray
As a child my family would go to church and then eat fast food after. Here I attempt to make sense of a sermon on the story of John the Baptist losing his head and a toy monster included with a kid’s meal.
ECSTASY, 2011
carved oak, Slip-and-Slide
Religious iconography (hand carved, three feet tall) juxtaposed with a Slip-and-Slide (ordered online, fifteen feet long).
A CARTOON DEATH, 2011
carved oak
HAND, 2011
carved oak, rope
RED GOD, 2011
carved oak
100 JESUSSES, 2010
cast foam, kiddie pool, water, fan
An attempt to synthetically recreate a miracle.
1982 WARRIOR MONUMENT, 2010
carved oak
A ten-foot tall monument to the video game warriors of my youth: Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Pinky, Space Invaders, Dig Dug and Q-bert (in descending order).
OBAMA: NAKED, LEVITATING, 2009
polyform clay
An eighteen inch tall sculpture in response to Horatio Greenough’s George ‘Jupiter’ Washington. The President is at once real (naked, human) and ideal (levitating, inspirational).
SPACE DEITY, 2008
recycled wood, steel
Scrap materials from the studio reorganized themselves into a god. I had nothing to do with it.
THE BORDER PROPOSAL
, 2007
cast concrete, plastic
This piece was installed at the International Peace Park on the border of the United States and Canada in the northwest corner of Washington. The work was eighteen feet in length and fifteen inches tall; it was installed over the course of three days.
The planned building of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico seems an archaic, expensive and exclusionary solution to the immigration issues facing the U.S. in the 21st century. Through this humorously scaled model, complete with a solid concrete wall and guards at attention, viewers could participate in this failed diplomacy: they could walk right over it.
FREEDOM OF CHOICE, 2007
glass, wood, metal, gumballs
You can choose any spout to get your treat. The gum, however, is always the same.
WORRY, 2007
ceramic busts, fishbowl, fish
TASTY AMERICAN, 2007
cast hard candy, cap-gun caps
Enjoy this three feet long tasty treat: the sugar rush, the explosive caps between your teeth.
SLEEPLESS, 2007
cast plaster
I could not sleep. I kept imagining a rolling ball of hands.
CHRYSALIDES
, 2006
turned aluminum
This group of over one hundred unique forms was installed at the 2006 Key West Sculpture Exhibition and then permanently in The Children’s Memorial Park in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
HEAD, 2005
carved limestone
A feminine self-portrait.
G. I. JOHN SERIES, 2003-2005
cast neoprene
The G.I. JOHN series of sculptures and installations depicts an intrepid army of one. These life-size cast neoprene action figures promote anti-terrorism initiatives and defend core American values. This elite commando force has been deployed to numerous domestic targets: national landmarks, state parks, universities, office spaces, parking lots and living rooms. Dedicated to the defense of American citizens in these volatile locations, G.I. JOHN is here.
This series was in response to the notion of “us” versus “them.” “Us” obviously playing the role of the good and godly defenders of freedom at home and abroad, and “them” serving as “the other” or “evildoer.” I cast myself in the role of our fearless hero, embellishing my physique in synthetic material. Our villain is never apparent but lurks somewhere in the periphery. These works existed as both sculptures and installations.
MUSHROOM CLOUD, 2003
lint
With the United States entangling itself deeper into conflict in the Middle East, I was considering how small, seemingly unimportant decisions could develop into major conflict. I began to pay closer attention to inconsequential materials in my daily activity. This photograph shows a sculpture of a fifteen inch mushroom cloud made from a year’s worth of my collected lint from my dryer.
SELF-PORTRAIT, 2000
concrete
This cast relief was a colossal rendering of my handprint. Three feet in height, it was completed with the exacting detail of my fingerprints copied meticulously into the clay original.
O, 1999
concrete, steel
This concrete and steel sculpture was inspired by a NOVA program about a mathematician who worked for several years to resolve a centuries-old equation. Art, like pure mathematics, is often in pursuit of something that serves no obvious practical purpose but, instead, has an inherent quality of beauty.
This sculpture was exhibited on the campus of Notre Dame, in downtown Indianapolis and at Appalachian State University in North Carolina where it received the award for first place in the 17th Annual Rosen Sculpture Competition.
THE MORNING RITUAL, 1998
wood, brass, photographs
I created this fifteen inch tall sculpture while studying abroad at The University of Tasmania. The program was focused on furniture with an emphasis on inventive design with high craftsmanship. This piece reflected both my acquisition of new skills and my desire to create something that gave a sense of home. The cabinet includes moving parts, photographs, and music.
PSALM 23, 1997
cast aluminum and bronze, wood
This seven feet tall group of mark-making tools aids the artist in drawing ideas into sand, earth or water. The title is derived from the biblical passage, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” As the “rod” and “staff” might comfort the religious, an artist’s tools give her comfort.
THIGHS, 1997
cast plaster
This sculpture of two advancing thighs reveals my undergraduate interest in the figure. The large size of the sculptures, approximately three feet tall, creates the sensation of impending doom from an oncoming goliath.