From Shorelines to Sculpture

I grew up by the beach and loved collecting the flotsam and jetsam I found. In terms of early artistic influence’s the films of the Charles and Ray Eames, particularly their Toccata for Toy Trains. I was also enthralled with the sculptures of Louise Nevelson. Ships and boats of all kinds fascinated me. 

I spent most of my adult life as an architect, which is in many ways the art of putting disparate materials together in functional and visually pleasing ways. 

I always experienced a degree of sadness seeing broken things discarded, and wished to give them a new life. This coupled with a love for the way the sea, wind, waves, sand and sculpted and honed the wood, metal and other materials I collected lead me to beginning to assemble some of them into forms that enhanced the already very real aesthetic value these objects contained. 

My work covers a variety of different “subjects:” boats, seascapes, abstract pieces, creatures, fish and airships. I have recently moved into creating functional objects, mainly lamps and other lighting fixtures. I also value art that reflects the place it were created in, thus quite a few of my pieces are specifically about the Downeast Coast.

My Artistic Journey

I developed a fascination with the potential of flotsam and jetsam very early in life. I grew up exploring the barrier beaches off the south shore of Long Island, New York. My family decorated their homes with interesting sea borne bits and pieces of all sorts. During this time I also became fascinated with boats and built ship models. 

For most of my adult years I lived away from direct contact with sea. I became an architect, designing buildings in New York and New Jersey. Sixteen years ago me and my wife fulfilled a life long dream and moved to the coast of Maine, where I continued to practice architecture. 

Upon retiring in 2023 I was faced with a couple of issues. I was bored and my house was cluttered with the things I’d collected on hikes and kayak trips along the beaches of Downeast Maine. I started putting these various bits a pieces together and began coming up with a wide variety of boats, seascapes, spaceships, creatures, lamps, and abstract objects. I received a lot of vital encouragement from family and friends, and have been exploring how I can use these found items to express my experiences and fantasies of the space between land and sea.