My object is to capture each animal savoring life to the fullest, thus creating a moment the viewer can share. If the creature is not flying, running or creeping, there at least is a tension in just standing still, as if the animal had been in motion a moment before and in another instant will be again. Some animals accept their world with a detached dignity; others react. A frightened Deer flees. A Rhino shows its horn menacingly . A Rooster crows in triumph. An Egret pauses nervously to sun itself, A Polar Bear stalks its prey.

When not placed in gardens, lawns, decks, open fields or around pools, these sculptures can be found in lobbies or atriums of public or private buildings. Outdoors they have proven equally at home in Idaho winters and Florida summers.

I employ a unique style of wood construction. Often I incorporate weathered wood such as barn siding and split rails. Other times I use new wood stained in vivid colors or add glass mosaics. Having previously chiseled directly in logs, I am excited by the freedom of size that construction allows. Most of my animals - even the, Rhinoceros and Giraffe - are life-size (or larger), placing the viewer in a position where she/he must face nature on an equal footing. For example, Trojan Chicken is 13 feet high or about nine times actual size. (Smaller sculptures are intended for indoors.)

Whether carved or constructed, medium is uniquely important to me as a wood sculptor. My affinity to wood is based in part on the fact that wood is the only art medium that was once alive. In forming wood into "living" images, therefore, I imagine I'm restoring life to a tree that has been "dismembered" by a saw. Weathering (particularly of old barn siding) further chronicles the wood's history of winter snows, spring rains and summer suns.

My aim is to be simple and direct. What is left out is as important as what is included. I try to make the figure take form effortlessly - a sort of three dimensional sketch employing as few forms as possible. Using flat boards cut on straight lines I aim to create an abstracted image of the living animal, often replacing solid volumes with negative spaces.