My artist statement:

My goal as an artist is to create art that engages an audience to pause, make them wonder, and perhaps, interact with my work.

 

I like to incorporate art into my everyday life to see how people respond to it. I want my work to incite conversations between people, to transcend the boundaries we invent so that we don’t have to converse.

 

I believe in having a strong commitment to and involvement in the local art community in Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as on a national and international level.

 

A major part of my process is collecting the components. I love the treasure hunt aspect of looking and gathering. People collaborate in my work from the outset. The audience also collaborates with the process by independently deciding to help me collect more of the objects they see in my work. They drop them off on my doorstep, put them in the back of my truck, mail them to me across the country or hand them off to me in person. What this means for my work is that my audience not only completes or continues a piece, but often initiates and determines its interdisciplinary qualities.

 

The incorporation of art in unexpected places breaks down the crucial boundary of “art being where you expect it to be” by bringing art to people. I have hung my art in the windows of an abandoned McDonald's.  I've installed my work in a local movie theater. I’ve encouraged people to bowl my art in a museum.

 

Every day for 14 years I drove a small pickup truck that I adorned, fender-to-fender, with more than 10,000 corks.  The Cork Truck was a daily reminder for me of the value of art in my own life. I am currently working on the Holey Circle ArtCar, a car encrusted with circle inspired objects.

Room and Board is currently showcasing a series of eight different colored Original Objects Panels on their web site and in their twelve showrooms across the United States.

I am honored the Minnesota Museum of American Art has acquired the Blue Dino for their permanent collection.