My objective as an artist is to capture what it means to be alive by attempting to breath life into simplified animal forms in wood. Each animal is shown savoring life to the fullest, creating a moment the viewer can share - a kangaroo leaps, an ostrich flees, a flamingo preens, a turtle becomes defensive. If not flying, running or stalking there at least is tension in merely remaining still, as if the animal had been in motion a moment before and in another instant will be again.

Why I choose animals? Unlike humans, animals reduce living to the basic Darwinian struggle to survive - avoiding predators, seeking nourishment, and reproducing. Stripped away are such human frailties as pride, jealousy or cruelty. With animals I can focus on life in it's most elemental form.

Why I choose wood? Wood is virtually the only art medium that itself was once alive, so that in reworking boards into living breathing animals I feel in a sense I am returning life to the dead tree. I often incorporate wood such as old weathered barn siding in order to add the dimension of time. I also employ new wood stained in vivid colors, or covered with glass mosaics for a sparkling texture.

My style is simple and direct. I try to make the figure take shape effortlessly - a sort of three dimensional sketch with as few forms as possible. Using flat boards cut on straight lines I create an abstract image, often replacing solid volumes with negative space, since what is left out can be as important as what is included.

In some cases I enlarge the animal to many times its normal size to force a new relationship between beast and human. Where we tend to look down on a small animal as inferior, the viewer must completely reorient when the same animal appears in giant size, such as my thirteen-foot tall Trojan Chicken or three-foot long Frog.