This summer, I will begin a commissioned sculpture for the City of Atlanta, to be sited near a new fire station. References in the design refer to the flowing of the nearby Chattahoochee River and to the site having been a former plantation.

New gallery connections include the Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis, Erdreich White fine Arts in Boston, Circa Gallery in Minneapolis and Lisa Saltman Arts in Oak Park, CA. It is a special day in the studio when a piece is crated and shipped away to new environs.

My involvement in recent shows at the Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee, the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend and Gallery KH in Chicago has been gratifying. A commission through the Folliard Gallery with wall sculptures sited in the corner of an open room presented a unique challenge (see "sited sculpture"). I enjoy unique challenges.

A group show at Hotcakes Gallery in Milwaukee was the culmination of another year in a mentor/mentee program sponsored by MARN, the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network. Younger and older artists are paired for one year meetings in valuable exchanges of ideas, experiences and concepts.

I am always trying to push my work in new directions. Please check out the more 3-dimensional wall sculptures in my Patriot Series, seen amongst the painted wall sculpture section.

Recent musical inspiration has come from Peter Sellars in lecture at the University of Chicago (coordinated by Lynn Lucius), and his collaboration with John Adams in "Dr. Atomic" at the Chicago Lyric Opera. Also from the alto saxophone of Charles McPherson, and the tenor saxes of Chris Potter, Aaron Gardner and Jeff Morrison. I am very fortunate to have Aaron Gardner as my sax instructor.

I have found recent poetic inspiration in Mary Oliver's poem "Rhapsody", and borrowed a line or two for portions of titles.

Thanks for visiting my website.

Richard

Artist Statement

Artist Statement

My work is a distillation of life experiences, often seen through the influences of music and poetry. I allow the cadences, rhythms and syncopations of the musical and the poetic to resonate within and inform the spirits of my pieces.

Sometimes found objects from my walks serve as metaphors for the experiences and wisdom we accumulate in our walks through life. I re-use these found shapes in metal and in paint, allowing them to challenge us in new ways with their inherent secrets.

Some of my works are between painting and sculpture. Time plays a very essential role in these pieces as they are not so much about remembering the details of the past as they are about the essence of the memories which linger. Their emotional focus is broad and somewhat blurred by time, yet they continue to evoke and to clarify events in my life which have personal formative significance.

Many of my wall sculptures are remembrances from my life of a particular event in a particular place. They encapsulate time, place and emotion and allow me to reconstitute a meaningful moment from life as a tangible object. They are the string leading back into the labyrinth which I may follow to and fro at any time. Through them, I seek clarity.

The examples from my “Patriot Series” look ahead to better times for our country in the post-Bush years. I find it more constructive to take this optimistic approach rather than dwelling on the calamities of the present.