I was born Aug. 18th 1960 in Ponca City, Oklahoma where I grew up until I left to go to college at the Univ. of Okla. In 1978. I studied Theater, Philosophy, & Art . The art department at Univ. of Okla. proved to be a great learning experience in that I got a well rounded knowledge about all the basics concerning Art History, different techniques & applications, and critical philosophy concerning the visual arts. In 1983 I came to New York for a 20 day tour & before the 1rst week I knew I would be making New York my new home & in less than 4 months I moved here & transferred to The School of Visual Arts where I graduated in 1988 with great critical regards. Having had the more intense & structured environment & work ethics from the Art Department at Univ. of Okla. put me at a great advantage when I came to S.V.A. where the list of welling known successful artists on staff is impressive but not necessarily practical when it comes to teaching. In a good way, the expression "having your cake & eating it too" applies to my education. The art department at Univ. of Okla. taught me about the ingredients, how to use them, to actually make "cake." Knowing your tools certainly makes creating Art a lot less intimidating. Moving to New York, going to S.V.A. was where I learned to ingest the subjective spirit of the creative process through people actually living it & living in New York City is "eating it too".
Going to school & living in New York is definitely inspiring as well as exciting. Paying rent & finding space to create art is certainly challenging! I’ve been fortunate in finding jobs bartending to make ends meet. In addition to lucrative income & flexible hours, most of the places considered me as their artist-in-residence allowing me to show, sell & change the art as I pleased, giving me a continual gallery of sorts. I never had to choose between making a living or struggling as a starving artist because my job provided an outlet for both. Up until August 2005, I kept a job bartending & made art as well. After 20 + years I finally got tired of dealing with drunks for money & stopped bartending. Last June I bought a computer & have been learning about this newest tool in my box, bringing me into the present century & to this site.
