Popped Art

Title: Popped Art
Size: Dimensions variable
Date: 8/2009
Media: Construction
Materials: Aluminum and plastic.
Price: $1,200.00

Description:

Popped Art is eight POP-Tarts in Pop Art style. The multiple cast aluminum Pop-Tarts with plastic icing burst from the wall on plastic mounts and machined aluminum rods.

Roll

Title: Roll
Size: 39” X 74” X 14”
Date: 08/2009
Materials: Bronze, steel, and bread.
Price: $3,230.00

Description:
Roll deals with the connection between mental and physical health and the dependency on drugs through the language of fabricated, human scale, medical apparati. The addition of bread as a medium brings with it a suggestion of impermanence and decay contrasted with the enduring steel, bronze, and rubber.

See below for details.

Working Title, Roll

Here are some in-progress photographs of my current sculpture with the working title "Roll." It is a kind of Self-portrait in steel, bronze, and bread. More on it soon.

Core Sample

Title: Core Sample
Size: 28” X 58” X 10”
Date: 05/2009
Materials: Core, Mantle, Crust, and Lava.
Price: $900.00

Description:
Pun signifiers sit in for this diagrammatical look at the layers of the Earth.
A Bronze apple core stands in for the molten metal center of our Earth while the mantle mantle allows the ceramic crust, made of material from the shell we live on, to ride above it as red lava spews upward through it.

Kernel and Cleanse

Title: Kernel
Size: 28” X 5 ½” X 3”
Date: 04/09
Media: Sculpture
Materials: Wood, soap, ceramic, and, stainless steel soap dishes.
Price: $400.00

Description:
The Kernel of Truth remains, enduring in the residue of every old lie.

Following events involving deception from family members I started trying to decide how I would sculpt a lie. Deciding what physical form deceit would take was not an easy task. Through brainstorming I came to the play on words lye/lie soap. It seamed to be the perfect marriage of pun and concept. Creating the lie from, you guessed it, soap was the obvious first choice and after wading through twelve different materials it was clearly the right option. Many other materials brought with them interesting textures and connotations but none came close to matching the weak, easily dissolved, translucency of actual soap. I chose ceramic for the titular Kernel of truth within the lie. I found no better material to articulate the permanent, hard truth. As the lie wears away, becoming more and more transparent, this would always be left behind, enduring. As for the final form the artwork takes, I again went through many possibilities. Most of them became very bulky very quickly. The very simple concept became overwhelmed easily by too much unnecessary information. To find the most elegant solution editing became paramount. In Kernel, instead of incorporating every step, I chose to include only the beginning and end of the story as objects. On the left a new lie sits on a pristine dish with only a hint of what’s inside visible. To the right the dish carries only the kernel sitting unflinchingly on the residue of the used up lie.

Title: Cleanse
Size: Dimensions Variable, 3 min. loop
Date: 04/09
Media: Video
Materials: Hands, soap, water, and sink.
Price: NFS

Description:
Endless is the attempt to stay clean after a fraudulent act. In Cleanse, a looped video seemed the ideal medium to demonstrate this effort. Projected ethereally nearby Kernel, a pair of hands works compulsively to try to sanitize themselves. This video informs the objects in Kernel as a sort of middle step.

In their adjacent installation the two work in concert to convey a unified thought.

POP Tart

Title: POP Tart
Size: 5” X 8” X 22”
Date: 3/2009
Media: Construction
Materials: Aluminum, steel, and plastic.
Price: $350.00

Description:
POP Tart is very easy to explain. It is a POP-Tart in the style of a Pop Art piece. It is comprised of a steel mount, a purchased aluminum rod, and a cast aluminum Pop-Tart with plastic icing. This piece is being used as a pattern to create a larger wall piece “Popped Art” that you will see on here soon.

Pissing Contest

Title: Pissing Contest
Size: 8’ X 3’ X 4’ 6”
Date: 12-2008
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, wire, lamps, galvanized pipe, game board, bedpans.
Price: $1,300.00

Description:

This piece was inspired by an argument with a family member. This confrontation lasted hours with neither side giving in, both with righteousness on their side. I have always thought the colloquialism of the “pissing contest” was a hilarious visualization. Here I use humor to deal with the harsh realities of a personal experience. I invite anyone to step up into the role of the competitor but be ready to have you side of the story in the spot light.

Point and Shoot

Title: Point and Shoot
Size: 11” X 6” X 4”
Date: 10/2008
Media: Ceramic
Materials: Porcelain
Price: $175.00

Description: This piece marks the first successful piece I made using ceramic slip-casting techniques. The hand is life-cast from my patient wife. The camera is an older model Kodak digital camera. I love the final piece as you see it here almost as much as I love the plaster molds I made. The hand is a very interesting four-part mold and the camera is a pretty complex six-part mold.

With the advent of digital technology cameras are everywhere. Their product is used not only to commemorate the good times but also as evidence of the bad times. Cameras are used many times as a way to point out peoples’ flaws. The world is under surveillance; there is always a digital eye ready to point out your mistakes.

Hale-o, Good-bye

Title: Hale-o, Good-bye
Size: 14” X 18” X 14”
Date: 8/28/08
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood (oak, maple, poplar, walnut,) Steel
Price: $300.00

Description:
My first piece as a graduate student at West Virginia University. I am very proud to be a student at WVU. Hale-o, Good-bye is a direct response to an assignment by Professor Jason Lee. The project was use ONLY wood and metal found in the scrap bins to create a piece in your style. The assignment was to show your skills in wood and metal joinery. My skills are high in woodwork and terribly low in metalwork. I am happy with the outcome. The title is a bit of a joke. The artist that I am replacing in the program was named Hale. I am hoping that everyday I prove that I am not he. I hope to prove that I am my own person, working in my own style, and learning everyday.

Chomping at the Bit

Title: Chomping at the Bit
Size: 13” X 3” X 5”
Date: 08-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, drill bit, tooth, and glass.
Price: $300.00

Description:
This is the fourth of my Wisdom Extracted series. The shape of this container has interested me for a long time. Its depth made it hard to decide what to put in it, until I started working on this series about my teeth. Here the deep box implies the cavernous mouth with its dark recesses. The only time that the contents are seen in the light of day is when the dentist unceremoniously yanks them out. Brought to light for the first time, here at the front of the shadowy box the tooth is paired with the most foreboding of all dentist apparatus, the drill!

Dry Socket

Title: Dry Socket

Size: 12” X 30” X 15”
Date: 09-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, electrical outlet, and sand.
Price: $450.00

Description:
My Wisdom Extraction Series grows as my mouth heals. This piece refers to the most common complication to oral surgery, dry socket. Upon extraction of a tooth, a clot is formed protecting the hole left in your jaw. If that clot dislodges it leaves the nerve and bone exposed. “Dry Socket” represents that ominous feeling of the possibility of great pain.

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Last displayed at

"SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY FACULTY ART SHOW"

FRANK ARTS CENTER SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV.

09-11-2007

Impacted

Title: Impacted
Size: 19” X 5” X 3”
Date: 08-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wooden sewing table drawer, plaster, plastic treasure chest, clock spring, clock housing, and glass.
Price: $650.00

Description:
This small treasure chest was given to me by my dentist when I was a child. It was to put my loose tooth in when it fell out. Placed under my pillow it would allow the tooth fairy to bring me a quarter. I liked the treasure box more than twenty-five cents. Apparently my obsession with objects goes back pretty far.
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Last displayed at
"SHEPHERD UNIVERSITY FACULTY ART SHOW"
FRANK ARTS CENTER SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV.
09-11-2007

The Check was in the Mail

Title: The Check was in the Mail
Size: 12’ 3 ½” X 4’ X 3’ 6”
Date: 08-2007
Media: Installation
Materials: Wood, mailbox, LED, cotton sheets, 3 AAA batteries, and The Blue Elephant Gallery.
Price: Determined by silent auction



Description:
I was invited by Mike Mendez to take part in an exhibition and fund raiser for the Frederick Non-Profit Building Supply at The Blue Elephant Gallery in Frederick Maryland. Each artist was given a steel mailbox and asked to bring back art. I decided right away that I wanted my piece to stand tall above the rest. I chose to make mine within ½ inch of the ceiling. From the front of the open mailbox I hung a makeshift bed-sheet rope making each section larger till it reached full size at the floor. This was done to stretch perspective and try to create the illusion of it being even taller. A red LED was put at the tip of the upright flag to signal aircraft to reroute.
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Last displayed at
"MAILBOX SHOW"
BLUE ELEPHANT ARTS CENTER FREDERICK, MD.
09-2007

Altared

Title: Altared
Size: 23” X 28” X 5 ½”
Date: 08-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, bicycle fender, sphygmomanometers, hat mold, plaster, cork, and tooth.
Price: $750.00

Description:
After a quadruple molar extraction my face no longer felt like my own. It is said to be a normal and easy thing. I don’t find it normal to have parts of me removed. I most definitely did not find it to be easy. It is an odd affair, to be put under anesthesia and wake up different. Seemingly you close your eyes and instantly open them again. But a lot happens in that blink.

Deflated

Title: Deflated
Size: 9” x 18” x 5”
Date: 01-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, metal hardware, rubber balloons, Coca-Cola bottle, glass.
Price: $1600.00

Description:
This piece is about my Uncle Bill’s death. I borrowed parts from a science experiment I was taught in school when learning the diaphragm is what controls breathing. In the original experiment a plastic bottle is used with rubber balloons representing lungs. A glass coke bottle not only calls to mind my Uncle because he was a Coke collector, it also speaks of the hardening and malfunction of his lungs. Of course you also see the deflated balloons representing the limp, unfilled lungs. The emptiness on the left reiterates this emptiness. The Title speaks of the idea that not only are the lungs deflated but also the spirit of our family when one more was lost.

Impatient

Title: Impatient
Size: 4” x 6” x 1 ½”
Date: 11-2006
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Metal box, wood, watch gears, tin name-plate, glass.
Price: $400.00

Description:
This piece is very simple. I found a tin name-plate for an Impatient bush. The name “Impatient” is so great because with the simple addition of some watch gears, the word takes on its homographical meaning speaking of our now customary restlessness. I believe that we often keep ourselves busy even when we are not because it makes us feel important.

Dow Benedict Benedict Benedict Benedict

Title: Dow Benedict Benedict Benedict Benedict
Size: 18” X 18” X 5”
Date: 03-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, glass, paper, light-bulbs, hood ornament, LEDs.
Price: $800.00

Description:
This piece is homage to my mentor L. Dow Benedict IV. I used objects that are similar to those he uses in his work but in a style more like my own. The title comes from an Ed Kienholz piece, “Walter Hopps Hopps Hopps,” an homage to his friend Walter Hopps III.

"Mostly they turn in circles and wear out, then they get replaced."

Title: “Mostly they turn in circles and wear out, then they get replaced.”
Size: 7” X 9” X 5”
Date: 03-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, glass, clock gears, watch gears, bones.
Price: $650.00

Description:
This work is a summed up exactly by this section of dialogue from the movie “Waking the dead.” As a man re-plays conversations between himself and a loved one after her passing, he finally understands her fears.
“I don’t want to watch you turn into a cog in there machine.”
“Sometimes cogs can make machines run better.”
“Sometimes.”
“Yes.”
“Mostly they turn in circles and wear out, then they get replaced.”

Make yourself irreplaceable.

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Last diplayed at

"Shepherd University Faculty Exhibition"

Ruth Scarborouh Library, Shepherdstown, WV

10-2007

Admit One

Title: Admit One
Size: 12”
Date: 04-2001
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, offering envelope, ticket, glass.
Price: $450.00

Description:
This is a statement on my feelings of some people who believe that going to church and giving to charities makes them good people. There are many people who keep up the charade in front of the congregation, but as soon as they step out of that sanctuary religion, God, and charity are the last things on their minds. “The management reserves the right to refuse admission to the holder of this ticket” is printed on the reverse. To me putting these two objects together eloquently states: Just because you put a dollar in the envelope Sunday morning, does not necessarily get you into Heaven.

Ray of Light

Title: Ray of Light
Size: 8” X 8”X 10”
Date: 04 -2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Borex culture tubes, glass jars, B.B.s, gold leaf Madonna, multiple hanging devices, wood and, glass.
Price: Sold

Description:
This piece was done in collaboration with Kristy Cherry, Shepherd University Alum and now printmaking professor. We were invited to participate in the yearly “Box Show” at the Artists’ Gallery in Frederick, Maryland. They give you an 8 inch by 8 inch plywood box and you give them Art. I was excited to work with Kristy and we worked nearly seamlessly right from the beginning. Both of us wanted to do very little to the box allowing it to be a big part of the finished piece. Our work does have some similarities (material choice, collections, display tactics) but the one thing we kind of attached ourselves too, in this our first work together, was our Catholic upbringing. Even this was truly just a way to give ourselves some more guidelines. We both enjoy a good rule, not only to guide us but also because without rules there is nothing to push. Our finished piece “Ray of Light” is a sort of beehive homage to our Queen. Brilliant glass tubes create the almost glowing grid of the comb on the front while the Madonna can only be seen through a special side entrance to her chamber. This makes you contort yourself just for a tiny glimpse of her radiant majesty. We wanted to make the piece almost float out into the room so we devised a fairly elaborate hanging system of glass and metal. This is where our ease of working together really shone. In the final piece not only can you see elements of her work and of my own, but you also see things that are purely “us.” I was so happy to be given the opportunity to work with her and am excited about the chance to get to work with her again very soon.

Angels Breathe

Title: Angels Breathe
Size: 5” X 3” X 2”
Date: 2003
Media: Assemblage
Materials: wood, paper, wooden checker, and steel washer.
Price: $100.00 each

Description:
I made several of these. They are the more optimistic version of my drawing “family Tree.” I guess it says something that I made more of these than of the pessimistic pieces. Several people close to me died of lung related diseases. They stopped living because they couldn’t breathe any more. Now they can.

Family Tree

Title: Family Tree
Size: 81/2”x 11”
Date: 2003
Media: Drawing
Materials: Pencil on digital image
Price: nfs

Description:
Drawing made during a time when it seemed everyone in my family was dying from some lung related disease. The inverted diagram of the lungs substitutes for a family tree, each part in the diagram has been replaced with the words “place to hold disease.”

…but Kristy said “No.”

Title: …but Kristy said “No.”
Size: 10” X 10” X 2 ½”
Date: 04-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, LEDs, AA batteries, plastic toy, and glass.
Price: $300.00

Description:
Made for a show that was going to have over a hundred pieces in it. I wanted to make a piece that would stand out, so I put a giant red blinking light in it. I was playing with the idea of putting the words “HEY! LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME!” I called my friend and fellow artist, Kristy Cherry, and ran that idea past her-
…but Kristy said “No.”

Born with a silver rubber-tipped spoon in your mouth

Title: Born with a silver rubber-tipped spoon in your mouth
Size: 6” X 6” X 1”
Date: 03-2002
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, acrylic, spoon.
Price: $200.00

Description:
This was kind of a sketch for my “Story Series.” I was experimenting with letters, words and how to use them correctly in an artwork. In works following I used even less imposing lettering. As a rule: Do not use words in artwork.

Marta Mercey

Title: Marta Mercey
Size: 26” X 24” X 1 ½”
Date: 07-2002
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, leather, metal tacks.
Price: $400.00

Description:
The cover of this Bible was in a box headed for the garbage. I thought that the name on it was worth giving it a second chance.

No Knots

Title: No Knots
Size: 16” X 14” X 1”
Date: 03-2002
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood and glass
Price: $300.00

Description:
I like highlighting the “imperfections” as perfect.

Watch Over Us

Title: Watch Over Us
Size: 5” X 5” X ½”
Date: 02-2002
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood and glass.
Price: $200.00

Description:
My version of a bedtime prayer. A request for angels to stand at our bedposts to protect us as we sleep.

Canary in a Soul Mine

Title: Canary in a Soul Mine
Size: 29” X 7” X 5”
Date: 03-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, Plaster, LED, Clay, batteries, wire, switch, glass.
Price: $800.00

Description:
Laura had said to me that I should make an artwork based on her torso. All the scars from all the surgeries made her stomach very interesting. I said that I would love to make a cast of it to use in an artwork. I never got that chance. This piece is what I did get to do.

The Scientific Search for Self

Title: The Scientific Search for Self
Size: 4” X 12” X 4”
Date: 07-2000
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, tin, “I” lapel pin, magnifying glass, jaws.
Price: $400.00

Description:
The magnifying glass enlarges the jeweled letter “I” showing the importance of our search for importance.

Conversations with Millie

Title: Conversations with Millie
Size: 22” X 36” X 8”
Date: 4-2001
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, canvas, plaster, acrylic, skull, Beth’s teeth.
Price: $1,200.00

Description:
While working at an animal sanctuary, I made friends with an amazing Great Pyrenees dog named Millie. While roaming the grounds one day searching for some inspiration to release me from a touch of artist’s block, Millie pranced up to me and laid this sparkling white skull at my feet. She then sat there and looked at me like she was saying, “Here’s what you’re looking for, get to it.” It took less than an hour when I got home to finish this piece. Everything just seemed to fall into place.

Three Memories

Title: Three Memories
Size: 18” X 24” X 2 ½”
Date: 03-2000
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, paper, velvet, memories.
Price: $1,200.00

Description:
Three memories reside in the velvet bag hung in this piece.

Stations of the Lost

Title: Stations of the Lost
Size: 13” X 16” X 2 ½”
Date: 02-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, metal, glass, mirror, radio face and knob.
Price: $400.00

Description:
I had started a video installation piece titled “The Places We Were” after the death of Gram. I was never happy with the way it came out. This piece simply states all the things I was trying to say. This is made from the face of a radio that was owned by Gram. The area that shows the station you are on has been removed and a mirror that is at an angle that leaves you no reflection has been put in its place. Knowing what a mirror does this may leave you a bit uneasy. You want to know what angle you have to look at it to have evidence of yourself. How do we leave proof that we were here once we are gone?

an ASS out of yoU and AGE

Title: an ASS out of yoU and AGE
Size: 10” X 16”x 4”
Date: 02-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, plaster, tin, clock arm, acrylic, and glass.
Price: $500.00

Description:
You can’t do anything about getting older. Time is out of your hands. The harder you try to stop it, the more of it you waste.

Close to the Vestment

Title: Close to the Vestment
Size: 10” X 10” X 4”
Date: 02-2007
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Cardboard, glass, and metal rosary.
Price: $600.00

Description:
There has always been a cloak of secrecy over the Catholic Church. I believe that this mystery breeds mistrust and creates a place that can conceal dysfunction. Tradition can be a beautiful expression of a people, but it can also be a hindrance to a change that is long overdue. “Close to the Vestment” pulls back this shroud and shows a more open church, one that can regain trust and become a healthier environment.

Blockage

Title: Blockage
Size: 12” X 16” X 2”
Date: 01-2003
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, cork, plastic, and acrylic paint.
Price: $300.00

Description:
I guess I could make up something for this one. But, this just looks nice.

Robert’s Story

Title: Robert’s Story
Size: 13” X 26” X 2”
Date: 07-2005
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, Acrylic, and casters.
Price: $300.00

Description:
“Drawer scavenged from Robert Braun’s workshop. He is a man who has taught me a lot about wood, work, and woodwork.” Made during a time of considerable technical growth. I owe a lot to Robert sharing his knowledge. My craft will forever be sharper with the arrows he put in my quiver.

Between Poison and Cure

Title: Between Poison and Cure
Size: 5” X 5” X 3”
Date: 02-2002
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Metal, marble, and glass vial.
Price: $250.00

Description:
The cure looks like the poison sometimes.

The poison looks like the cure sometimes.

Meat at Joe’s

Title: Meat at Joe’s
Media: Assemblage
Materials: Wood, metal, acrylic paint, jaw-bone.
Price: $350.00

Description:
This piece was made shortly after a stint at a farmed animal sanctuary where I became a vegetarian. Going to work every day taking care of these animals made it very hard to come home and see part of them on my plate. These hay hooks that are used to bring feed to the animals call to mind the meat-hooks that bring them, as feed, to us. The gold leaf central panel tells us that this animal has significance.

He. Atomic Weight 3.174

Title: He. Atomic Weight 3.174
Media: Assemblage
Materials: wood, plaster, metal bar, glass, police light.
Price: NFS

Description:
This piece is my favorite of all my works. It speaks quite simply of trying to grab a hold on what you believe. Actually figuring out what you believe in is harder than believing in it. “He” has a double meaning in this piece: capital “He” or God, and “He.” the element Helium. In this work the blue light represents both of these things. There is a plaster cast of my hand trying to grab hold of this as it is constantly moving just out of reach.