"What's Love Got To Do With It"

“What’s love got to do with it?”

I love that making art requires all of me – my body, my mind, and my spirit. When I’m able to coax those parts of myself into alignment, the experience is a transcendent one that takes me on a journey outside myself. It transports me to a place where time disappears. In this place, the space between me, what I’m doing, and the art I’m working on seems to disappear and I enter the "flow state" - a term popularized by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura. All that’s left is an experience-filled, endless moment. 

Those experiences don’t end when I set my torch down. They follow me out into the broader world beyond my studio. Through those experiences, I’m not only making art, I’m cultivating the ability to be fully in the moment. And so making art isn’t just about making art objects for me. It’s also a kind of spiritual practice.

I love working with my hands to transform nondescript pieces of metal into objects that convey meaning. Separately, the pieces of metal don’t say a word - they’re mute. But as they’re brought together, they begin to convey messages that speak of joy, hope, and possibility. Bringing together just the right combination of cuboids and colors to turn a stack of metal into a statement of optimism makes me happy.. it makes me very happy.  

Even though I see myself as the vehicle that allows my sculptures and paintings to show up in the world, I also get to enjoy the ride. After being a working artist for more than 30 years, I still experience a sense of magic in the journey from concept to completion. For me there’s still mystery in the process of transforming matter into something that didn’t exist before. It’s not exactly the same as making something from nothing – only God can do that. But as an artist it’s the next best thing.

Ultimately, I love knowing that the pleasure I feel when I’m making art is extended and multiplied as it moves beyond my studio and into the broader world.