teaching a dog a new trick

Dancing dog learning a new trick and a solemn person in front of a tall building.

8 dollar glasses

a recent selection from my sketchbook.

camp drawings

a series of drawing from youth camp while working with some youth.

balance

be

cocoa formed fish

A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.”

metaphors

"I am interested in art as a means of living a life; not as a means of making a living.”

pour it in!

okay, I'm bit over zealous in my daily cocoa ritual...this image says it all; pour it in! The image of the hand with the pen reaching equilibrium is ....hmmm, what do you think it might imply?

forgiving is living

a page from a sketchbook done while discussing how we need to learn to cut the ties to past acts that bind us down...and keep us from forgiving ourselves and further progression

micah at age one

this i found in an old sketchbook...I use to love drawing our kids when I'd finally gotten them to fall asleep in church. My leg would generally become numb in the process..

hiding through sketching

figure sketches

sketches done while in NYC in spring 2007

another day, another page

food worship

This sketchy approach also helps to build the my conceptual understanding of thinking through the evaluation, creation and reflection of art. The inner workings of the mind are literally made visible through art.

house of learning

These sketch exercises largely consist of stepping back and asking questions; what do I see? What could it be and what makes me say that? What else could it be or mean? This process helps students to make connections, use deductive reasoning (inferential) and explore different perspectives. These routines facilitate 'stretched' thinking and makes one's thoughtful about their own course of learning (metacognitive awareness).

pious observance

While I search out personal histories, theories, aesthetics and techniques of art, I believe I provide a glimpse into a world within; something more valuable; how to think and become critically engaged in the pursuit of knowledge.

meaning in the vast chaos

An important part of my role as an artist is to help other's see relevance of what we do in day to day life and how it ties to higher meanings. Making significant connections is important. I believe that seeing one's relevance within the vast chaos of the visual culture in which we live is essential.

random page

The arts enlarges one's imagination and widens their view of the world through visual thinking. In my sketchbooks, the pages provide appropriate boundaries that allow for a great deal of autonomy and limited exploration. I believe that choices allow and motivate one's subconscience to connect new aesthetic experiences and scaffolds prior knowledge.

entangled in thought

It is often too easy to get entangled in the technique of art (or, the how) instead of, the why and what of art. Henri alluded to this when speaking about the true aim of the arts; it isn’t about making a painting. The arts help students to find creative solutions through problem solving opportunities unique to the arts. Too often art educators only skim the surface of art, by teaching technique and manipulation of media alone and fail to harness art’s core, it’s content. The wind behind the sail of any craft is the focus and emphasis of my teaching. Exploration of various media is a natural extension of exploring various avenues of thought.

colorado springs landscapes

Teaching the arts should sharpen the student’s senses and increase their ability to experience the world in a more complex, subtle and meaningful manner. As a teacher, I try to serve as a catalyst providing stimulus, opportunity and space where this ‘more than ordinary moment of existence ‘ can occur. A boon of insight can occur about the self, of the world and everything within it. Through teaching, I want to engage students on a personal level and have them confront their own thinking through art.

figure studies 2007

Robert Henri stated, “The object of painting a picture is not to make a picture-however unreasonable this may sound. The picture, if a picture results, is a by-product and may be useful, valuable, interesting as a sign of what has past. The object, which is in back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a more than ordinary moment of existence.”

zipper head sketch

I've always been interested in the inside/outside aspects of people. If we could only so easily reveal the true aspects of people's inner intentions and desires.