Why I make art

I don't do it to get rich and famous (although that would be nice), I don't do it for egotistical reasons (although that could be argued). I do it because I can't imagine doing anything else with my time. I do it in the hopes of affecting someone (however small that affect might be).

I did art as a kid, and was never much praised for it - at least that's how I remember it, although a few instances stand out as different from that perception. As kids we were required to take art classes in school (I don't think that is the case any longer - shame on the school system). I seem to recall that I didn't get much in the way of praise in those classes. However, I did love doing bread doll Christmas ornaments. I also won a couple of awards, one for a ceramic tile with a horse (that was an award from the art show at the Houston Rodeo - those from Texas know what I mean). The other was actually a science fair award for a book on koala bears, with drawings and a small sculptured koala bear. So maybe, rooted deeply in there is some approval of sculptural endeavors.

I studied architecture in undergrad (the acceptable form of sculpture?) and although I loved the fuzzy design courses, the engineering stuff - especially the structural math classes - were some mind twisters. My fourth year I decided I didn't want to waste away spending years drafting strip malls. So I talked to my advisor and talked him into letting me finish off with 'independent study.' I took early (I mean early) computer graphics courses, and a lot of photography classes.

After school I went on to work with a wonderful couple who had a business doing on screen presentations for a lot of tech-y companies. We installed some pretty mind-blowing stuff (for the time) for some big computer conferences. During this job I got this weird itch to make art - the CG stuff just wasn't 'real' enough for me, it didn't exist in the three dimensional world. So I did some painting, and one day picked up some clay at the art store. I was hooked. The first time I did a little sculpture (I am really not going to tell you what it was) I feel in love with the medium of sculpture.

A few months later I realized (more like being struck by a bolt of lightening) that I wanted to do sculpture. I figured out that I could apply to grad schools with my photo portfolio and then switch to sculpture over time. So that's what I did. And I have never really looked back.

So that's how I got here. Next time we will talk more about where here is.