About Me

Like many artistic souls, I've been drawing and painting since childhood. These activities seemed as basic to my developmental process as learning to read and write. So was was being mesmerized by color, shape, and form. I also love to work with my hands as a carpenter, so combining my love of art and construction, I gravitated in school towards theatrical set design and scenic painting. fresh from college I worked for several years as a scenic artist, painting backdrops and scenery for venues ranging from community theater to Broadway and "Disney on Ice" touring shows. Among my many favorite projects I worked on, are the network set for the 1994 Winter Olympics, the ballet "Hansel and Gretal" at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and an urban rooftop where Santa lands his sleigh, for Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes Christmas Show.

As a fine art painter, I'm able to combine the technical skills learned from long practice as a "scenic" with my personal creative eye. My media are Caseins, the traditional and preferred paints for theatrical art. These richly pigmented paints have a softer, warmer, less glossy feel than traditional artist oils. Realistic landscape paintings were a natural starting point for my first pieces, but my style and subject matter have evolved to a softer and more ephemeral focus, often with journey and transition as a thematic core.

 

There is a mystically charged moment in theater when the curtain opens or the lights come up, and one first peers into a parallel world of the play; a realm with its own unique story, history, and emotional life. The set designer's job is to create a visual resonance that immediately connects the viewer to the alternative universe of the tale being told. as a painter, I strive to create pieces that elicit this same sense of discovery and engagement.