Artist Statement

I have had a fascination with the properties of glass and a love of all wildlife and other animals for as long as I can remember. I have brought these two passions together in my wildlife glass art.  For the love of turtles, specifically sea turtles, I am, and will continue to dedicate my glass sea turtle sculpture to environmental education to help save these threatened and endangered species.

To begin with a wildlife subject, I take photographs, research the animal, transfer the images into a drawing, and using glass as my medium, I give the animal a soul and life, even as it is in its inanimate art form. I hope the art will speak to the viewer, tell a story, and invite the viewer to reach out and touch the art, and in the process become curious to know more.

My process of multiple layers of compatible glass called frit, which is fired multiple times to create realistic wildlife portraiture, is a time consuming procedure. I can only achieve the detail and the photo realism by learning new ways to work the glass every time I start a new art piece. I do commissions, but I am particularly interested in my own work in threatened and endangered species and kiln cast sculpture. My creative process is continually evolving, and to say I build my work upside down and backwards means I am solving a unique puzzle daily.

In the studio I am surrounded by projects. I am working on a multiple year commission depicting a specific coral reef north of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The 25.5 square feet of kiln formed glass, involving five panels will have over sixty marine wildlife creatures and multiple types of coral. I continue to work on a Black Labrador fine art wall piece and cast glass hatchlings representing the seven species of sea turtles. These are part of my sea turtle sculpture called “The Cycle of Life: Sea Turtle Glass Sculpture – Environmental Art Education Project”. When possible I volunteer for the Alligator Point Sea Turtle Patrol in Alligator Point, Florida. In January 2015, I volunteered briefly for the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund in Maui.

I look forward to more in depth studies on all the species of sea turtles in different areas around the world. Scuba diving is a relatively new exciting adventure in my life, and the magic of colors and diversity of forms below the surface of the ocean is one of God’s most fantastic paintings.