I’m mounting an exhibition of new work at the SHIFT Collaborative Studio in Seattle.  The gallery is located in the Tashiro Kaplan Arts Complex near Pioneer Square and the opening reception is next Thursday, June 2nd from 5:00 until 8:00 PM.  Hope you can make it!

My current work consists of tangled clusters of fleshy formations that evoke botanical or zoological specimens. I’m interested in ambiguity and contradiction, and want these pieces to suggest familiar forms while remaining open to various associations. My inspirations include the botanical photographs of Karl Blossfeldt, biological engravings of Ernst Haeckel, and glass scientific models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.  I’ve always been fascinated by the human inclination to seek out and gather odd and novel objects for personal contemplation and public display; an urge exemplified by the “WunderKammer” or cabinets of curiosities of Renaissance Europe.  In these pieces, I’m essentially makes my own oddities and arranging them in compositions meant to elicit a sense of wonder and inquisitiveness.

My work is featured in this new book, Breaking Ground:A Century of Craft Art in Western New York, edited by Barbara Lovenheim. The University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery hosted a launch event for this publication followed by a book signing. I was honored to be a part of the panel discussion along with fellow artists Wendell Castle, Wayne Higby, Linda Sikora and Leonard Urso.

http://blogs.rochester.edu/MAG/?p=1309