Born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming, my earliest artistic expression was doing pin striping on cars. After high school and a hitch in the Navy, I married and we moved to Denver, Colorado where I served an
apprenticeship to become a journeyman pipe fitter.
Eventually, needing a creative release, I enrolled in a
weekend adult painting class, and was hooked on art!
Although my job was secure, it was very laborious,
sometimes dangerous, and a dead-end. So, in 1970
my family and I moved to Fort Collins where I
enrolled at C.S.U. as an art student. There, exposure
to three-dimensional art quickly eroded my interest in painting. I studied both Sculpture and Metalsmithing/Jewelry Design, receiving a Fine Arts Degree in 1974. For the next several years, I produced custom fabricated gold and silver jewelry, which received several ribbon awards in local and regional exhibits. My sculptural tendencies were strong, however, and gradually my work grew in scale, becoming more architectural. While at C.S.U., I had taken a series of woodworking classes. Using that and my jewelry making techniques, I hammered, welded, and fused metalwork into doors, windows, and wall hangings. For a while, I specialized in designing custom entry doors for homes and businesses, some with inlaid metalwork, some with leaded stained glass, and various combinations using welded steel, copper and brass. Along the way, I incorporated carving into my work and expanded the scope to include custom furniture and cabinetry. This woodworking endeavor continued for 20-odd years, eventually becoming more production oriented than artistic. The desire for creative release was again unfulfilled. Then in l987, I discovered bronze sculpture. Wanting to learn all I could about the process, I began working in a nearby art foundry and assisting noted wildlife sculptor, Dan Ostermiller. That experience, and exposure to the work of innumerable other artists, helped to formulate my own approach to bronze sculpting.