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My work follows two parallel lines of development. One is object-based, focusing on themes of growth and patterning and which emulate both the natural world and metaphysical themes. The other consists of collaborative performance work with a series of my vessel sculptures. Both currents were nurtured during my time as a student at Columbia.
I enjoyed a capacious, light-filled private studio on West 125th Street in Harlem. The magnificent trusses of the elevated train outside my window are some of the most extraordinary in the city. They continue to embody my interest in urban structure and decay in counterpoint to my visual memory of the forests of my native Oregon. My sculpture of this period interprets tree forms with elements of industrial architecture.
Professor Howard Buchwald reinforced my interest in Jewish traditional culture and particularly the Lurianic story of breaking vessels as postmodern allegory. Later, as a Fulbright scholar in Italy, I would develop some of these ideas into my book, "Jewish Metaphysics As Generative Principle in American Art." We also enjoyed numerous discussions on the work of Primo Levi.