I’m so fortunate to have two studios each in a spectacular part of the world. Southern California and the contemporary art world is at my doorstep. Certainly my personal history and education is tied to this part of the world. California also has some of the best weather in the world. This is important for a practice like mine. To have the ease to obtain materials and to be able to communicate with a wide variety of creative people is a blessing. My second home and studio in West Cork, Ireland. It also has its charms and influences. West Cork has an ancient and rich history of creativity in the visual as well as in words and music. I find it unequaled in the world. It might be harder to find materials but in turn it gives me solace and long spans of time to create and think. It may be a new experience for me personally but all my ancestors called it home and there is something in the land and its people that brings me back year after year. It feels as much my home as California.

The bumpy road from 2021 into 2022 is seemingly just as disconcerting as the previous two years. Climate change, political unrest, financial worries and a pandemic that comes and goes. We’re all experiencing this tumultuous era. I have great respect for those who actively confront our crises and try to solve our problems. For those of us who try to eek out a quiet corner and create I am no less respectful. I’ve been lucky to continue to make artworks during this time. I do not take it for granted, I know how fortunate I am. Nevertheless, my worries are the same, my approach to my creations might not seem to carry that worry but they do. My most recent works are more about metaphors rather than specifics. When I ponder the circle as a formal composition I’m often thinking of how to maintain the whole, how to restore the broken. When I make my small Table Top sculptures, I’m thinking of monuments ancient and modern, monuments that have a spiritual context, my little creations are models for large scale works. Hopefully as larger works they will bring people together in mystery and meditation. Near my Irish home there are many standing stones and more than a few dolmens. These ancient creations are the inspiration for much of what I do. The layers of geometry over words, on top of drawn marks and brushed color are my version of the layers of meaning and years of interpretation that these ancient works have come to represent. And of course, the mystery, the fact that we will never quite know the original meaning and purpose, but that is what is so intriguing. One has to engage actively in order to wrest meaning from any experience. You have to place yourself in front of it or inside of it to get it.