My studio practice exemplifies a dedication to traditional printmaking processes combined with cut paper and assemblage.

My work is a representation of the act of searching for, and of our ability to recognize when one has found, something of “value.” Representations of bounty, fulfillment, longing, mystery, and communication between the realms of the living and the dead are embedded throughout much of my work. I interpret these ideas in woodcut, wood engraving, and etching, as those processes allow the integration of a high level of detail and the ability to work both very large and very small simultaneously. The highly detailed work allows me to explore our perceptions of both space and beauty.

My most recent completed body of work is a product of my research and visual explorations into optics and perception, and historic models of moveable and dimensional works on paper. The series treats the viewer to a psychedelic visual experience in hopes of leading them to question how we process what we perceive and how little we see in its entirety. A sense of wonder, expressions of deep and powerful love, and an insatiable yearning to connect with and communicate with the dead are all embedded within the abstract patterns, nature images, art historical references, and items drawn my imagination.

I’m currently working on a Dance of Death series of miniature prints that will ultimately consist of 82 editioned wood engravings with letterpress printed text. Both timeless and timely, the theme reminds the viewer of the universal truth that no matter one's station in life, Death is the great equalizer. My goal is to recreate Hans Holbein the Younger’s entire 1538 series of 41 miniature woodcuts (originally carved by the formschneider Hans Lutzelburger), and to create an additional 41 Dance of Death wood engravings from my own drawings that represent some of the people, technology, and culture of our time. Thus far, I’ve been working on this project for three years and am half way through. Last spring the project was featured in an article in The Block & Burin, the journal of The Wood Engravers’ Network. This fall I was interviewed about the project by Art Historian and author Bethan Stevens during a panel at the Death Festival in Sussex, UK, and this spring the project will be featured in two additional articles, including one in Multiples, the journal of The Society of Wood Engravers, as well as in a feature article for Printmaking Today Magazine.

Inspired in part by the mysterious and unexplained phenomenon of ball lightning and their commonalities to Naga fireballs, will o’ wisps, and the Marfa Lights, I’m also working on a series of large-scale works on paper that incorporate densely layered color woodcuts combined with cut paper and assemblage, resulting in a series of dimensional images depicting portals, apparitions, and other-worldly figures. In every case, these phenomena are equated to a ghostly visitation. I want the work to hold an air of mystery, a cold comfort, a hair-raising familiarity, and nostalgic warmth. I’ll infuse the work with beauty and stillness. The dimensional elements in the work will allude to the existence of different planes of existence.