Process

   When you gaze upon my art you are witnessing much more than meets the eye; you are witnessing the natural beauty provided by nature, the adventure spent gathering the wood and glass, the hours of solitude spent melting and forming the precious metals and minerals added for color, and placing it all together.

The beginning of my artistic journey takes me into remote river canyons throughout California’s Gold Country.  I hunt for hours, gathering the right pieces of driftwood that I let dry in my studio for up to six months.  Then, I lacquer the wood, creating a beautiful wet finished appearance.

I then spend my time collecting broken shards of glass along the river, mainly from old dumpsites dating as far back as the 1849 gold rush.  Sometimes (after heavy rains) our river beds are littered with old glass that creates a dangerous scenario for bare feet, so as I clean it up, I take it to my studio and melt it with my borosilicate glass.

After that is complete, I mix and melt precious metals including gold, silver, platinum, zinc, manganese, palladium, titanium and iridium with the collected glass to create a very diverse color combination and pattern.

Then comes the fun part of melting and manipulating the glass, creating the masterpieces you see before you.

To finalize the piece, the sculptures are mounted to finished, reclaimed, 100+ year-old wood flooring from a historic home in Nevada City.

You have my everlasting gratitude for your appreciation of my work.  I hope it gives you inspiration to see the beauty in all aspects of your life, and understand that not everything in life is beautiful on the surface.  Stay positive and continue to look deeper.