BIOGRAPHY

Art has always been part of my world. My parents were both educators, but also artists. My mother was a painter and my father was a musician and landscape gardener.

I attended Rochester Institute of Technology for Electrical Engineering from 1967 to 1970; engineering gave me a basic understanding of structure but lacked individual creativity. I then switched majors to furniture design at the renowned School for American craftsmen (SAC). For me, this was an exciting experience: being introduced to the art world and learning the basics of design.

When I moved to Manhattan and acquired “ real-world” jobs. I was fortunate to hone my design skills via utilitarian art forms for several years while I helped an architect make and design furniture.

In 1983 I moved to Charlotte North Carolina, where I established my own cabinetry shop, Fine Art Woodworks, designing and creating cabinets, millwork, furniture, pattern-making, and fabricating helical staircases. Utilizing exotic woods and integrating my cabinet-making skills with woodturning, I started making simple bowls and then progressed to complex segmented turnings.

In 1998 I began art shows and designed and built my woodturning shop. In 2002, I was doing shows full time; since then, I have participated in as many as 30 shows a year.

Some of my work is solely carved but most is integrated with my woodturning. I have developed several different styles: segmented construction, hollow form vessels, carved bird finials, “natural edge” bowls and furniture, decorative turned and carved teapots, and convex and concave tile wall pieces. I like to embellish my work with crushed turquoise/epoxy in the natural voids of the wood.

My work keeps me driven and thrilled to create each day. I enjoy the artist show circuit for sales and accolades, but more importantly, I love the circuit for the bonds and friendships I have made.