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Artworks Statement Biography
BIOGRAPHICAL
NOTES
The works seen on this website are in a
style of construction that I developed on my own as a unique treatment of wood, with
a very extensive use of lamination to enable me to achieve the maximum in dynamism
and expression.
To give some biographical details: I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, September
25, 1948. My life in art began in earnest at the age of 11 in Wellesley, Ontario.
Being utterly captivated by a film of an Inuit carver creating an image full of magic
and power from a raw piece of stone, I determined then and there to become a carver.
A Christmas gift of a small set of high quality carving tools began a passion that
has never abated.
In l969, after studying at the Ontario College of Art for two years, I began
to travel and work around the world for nearly a decade, building houses and fighting
forest fires in the Yukon, picking potatoes in England, washing pots in Paris, doing
hotel laundry in Switzerland, (where I learned to speak French), building more houses
in New Zealand and managing exploration work in northern Australia. My travels included
several months in Central America and visits to many Pacific and Indonesian Islands
as well as New Guinea.
Upon my return to Canada in 1977 I undertook to complete an apprenticeship with a
master woodcarver, which I accomplished in 1981. I began, at that point, to seriously
apply my knowledge of the world and my skills to the production of sculptural works.
I began exhibiting my fine art work in 1976 in the National Art Gallery of New
Zealand. Since then I have been exhibiting on an ever increasing basis, with
a number of solo exhibits in public and commercial galleries. Film set construction
and sculpture commissions have provided a sound financial foundation from which to
work on the development of my artistic passions.
In 1999 I was accepted as a member of the Sculptors Society of Canada, which
maintains a gallery in central Toronto. In 2001 I was elected SSC Vice-President.
In 2002 I was asked to sit on the advisory board of Seneca College, York University
campus, to help set up the new computer animation program.
In 2003 I won an international competition to design and create all the sculptures
for the Casino Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ontario. This project consists of
13 large figures in the Belle Epoche style, currently being completed.
In December 2003 I will exhibit two of my pieces at the 4th Biennale del Arte
Contemporaneo in Florence, Italy, for which I have received a Travel Grant from
The Canada Council.