Artist's Statement
I have been making boxes and sculptural containers since I was a teenager. My first pieces were puzzle boxes where the inspiration was to try to make psychological portraits of the intended recipients. I became a full-time artist/box maker in 1985, and in the decades since then have made thousands of boxes, drawing inspiration for my pieces from many sources, including mineral formations, modern sculpture, psychology, the human form, folded paper, and more abstract visual explorations. Over the most recent years my inspiration has been the psychological realm of architecture, beginning with the iconic work of Frank Lloyd Wright and moving on to the fantasy architecture of artists such as Giovanni-Battista Piranesi and M.C.Escher.
In my current architectural work I try to draw the viewer into a world where a sense of scale is lost. In each sculpture box I seek to intensify a specific aspect or emotional quality of the architecture. I’m interested in exploring the dualities of light versus dark and of exterior versus interior, of hidden versus exposed and of openness versus containment. Mostly I’m fascinated with how different spaces have different emotional feels, and I try to manipulate forms, materials and light to create an emotional response beyond the initial sense of curiosity.
It is important to me that my sculptures be containers, and that this is part of the curiosity and interest they attract. I feel that as humans we instinctively respond to containers, as we ourselves are containers for the soul, and that to know that something has an inside, and that some special thing might be contained there, is more than a pleasing conceit.