My first career of forty years was as an aerospace engineer in industry and NASA. I performed engineering research and participated in major aeronautics and space development programs. Contributing to the manned lunar program was particularly rewarding to me. While working for NASA, I attended studio art classes at Montgomery College, MD. For years, my primary interest was oil painting along the Potomac river or at remote sites in Montgomery County.
After joining NASA, I attended evening studio art classes and spent years plein air painting at remote sites in Maryland, where I now live. I also experimented with sculpture, and one piece was the precursor of my current emphasis on “ribbons of wood.” As a sculptor, I try to cause a maximum human response with a minimum of material. I try to make visible what is essentially invisible, a defining form of a subject, be it an object, the human form, a human emotion, animals or birds, or the trajectory of a body in space. And all my sculptures are based on some recollection of past experiences. Sensuous “ribbons of wood” define the compositions and to me, a feeling of movement is established through their bending and twisting. The texture, color, and grain of the wood enhance the reaction to the images. I start with a sketch, but the final image depends on the feel of the sculpture as the wood is worked.
One of the few pieces of sculpture I created while taking art classes was made of thin wood plies and is the origin of my current sculpture. I finally developed a technique to deal with large plies or ribbons of wood to achieve a light, free sculptural form.
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