I am a mixed media artist who combines modern photography and printing
with traditional collage and assemblage to create objects that appear to be artifacts from another culture or time. I am inspired by the patterns in nature, other cultures, and
primitive art including pictograms and petroglyphs from around the Southwest.

Most of my pieces start as photographs I take of rocks, ruins, petroglyphs, and petrified wood around the Southwest. But rather than attempt to create a perfect print of my photos, I look for shapes, patterns, and hidden meanings in those images, akin to the way an old-school Zuni carver studies a rock looking for an animal’s spirit to release. I then build collages out of various papers, symbols, and texts to emphasize the shapes, texture and mood of an individual photo, inviting chance and organic imperfection as I create.

I then print the original photos on top of the resulting collages, blending these real and imaginary worlds. Finally, I add assemblage elements – including sticks, stones, beads, bones, feathers, fibers, and metals – to add dimension: both to the physical work, as well as to its layers of meaning. When done, I leave it to you to play the roll of archaeologist, studying the resulting artifact for clues of when and where it came from, imagining what purpose it served for the unknown culture that created it. That's why the images above are identified by the "site" where they originated: this is the place the original photo was taken, and the location of the archaeological dig where the resulting artifact can be imagined to have been found.

I encourage you to follow me on Facebook, as that is where I post work in progress, invitations to events, and further descriptions of my process on a more frequent basis.

Exhibits & Discussions:

A catalog from my January 2015 Contemporary Artifacts show is available with photos and stories for all of the pieces that were in the show. You can get a free eBook at Apple iBooks or Google Play; a 64 page full-color printed book is available through Amazon.com or the galleries that represent me.

Representation:

Weyrich Gallery has a selection of small works of mine.
Weyrich Gallery | 2935-D Louisiana NE Albuquerque, NM 87110 | Tel: 505.883.7410

Gallery with a Cause at New Mexico Cancer Center (please click for examples of my work shown from a recent show there, plus contact information)

Other work is available direct from the artist. This link will take you to my current inventory of work.

Direct Contact: | 505.286.0897 (US Mountain Time)