The Evolution of "Senses"

Prior to college, my art experience consisted of acrylic paint and graphite. So, needless to say, I wanted to try every medium possible when I entered my first year at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. I quickly discovered that I was grossly under prepared as an artist. It was true that I could make a graphite drawing look like a photograph, but I was a young artist and I didn't understand the conceptual and emotional side of creating works of art. I had a lot of catching up to do and, for a long time, it would prove to be very frustrating for me.


I continued to paint, using oil instead of acrylic, dabbled in various forms of sculpture, picked up a camera now and then and tried numerous mixed media formats. All of these mediums were work for me, hard work that would take me a very long time to make any progress. I then stumbled upon bookmaking and papermaking. I took to both of them very quickly and found them to be very therapeutic. It was exactly what I needed to move forward as an artist. I began to make handmade books using my own handmade paper and ceramic covers. I made some books for myself while others were commissioned for others and customized to their personal tastes and styles. I finally found a medium I felt successful working in and enjoyed immensely.


The year 1999 was my senior year at Webster and I was deep in my bookmaking process. I decided to make a book about a good friend's younger brother, Mark, who was hearing impaired. Mark had a wonderful spirit and I enjoyed spending time with him. He loved talking about his favorite actors and actresses and the movies they starred in. Mark could not hear a sound but could read lips very well. As a musician and having a deep love for music, I could not imagine not having the ability to hear. I always considered Mark having a handicap. During our conversations, I believe Mark never considered his hearing impairment as a handicap but maybe a challenge. I could tell his other "senses" were elevated. During our many conversations, I did various sketches in India Ink based on Mark. They were titled: Echo, Faith, Senses, Truth, Us, Vibration, Whisper and Voice just to name a few. The sketches were quick and immediate and I believe captured the essence of our conversations. After several weeks of journaling in the book, I placed the book in storage not to be discovered for another ten years.


In 2009, a year after moving into our new house, I found a storage box in the back corner of our basement while I was looking for my record collection. Inside the storage box was various art supplies and a few handmade books, including the book I made about Mark. I began thumbing through the old sketches and I enjoyed their simplicity and thought that they would translate well to large oil paintings. I began immediately working on the first painting Voice, in the summer of 2009 and I have continued to use my journal from ten years ago to make my current work. Although the current work and their titles are based off of sketches made over ten years ago, the meaning of the work has evolved. You will find under each blog post the title page and the sketch from the journal measuring only a few inches in size. Below the title page and sketch is the oil painting based off the sketch. I know you will find the similarity between the sketches and the paintings, but I also hope you discover the evolution of the work and its meaning. Through my own life experiences, what "Us" means now and what "Us" meant in 1999 is completely different. 


The body of work is entitled "Senses." I hope you can draw a feeling, memory or experience from each of these works and titles and explore how they relate to you. 

Journal
Handmade Paper and Booking Board 
Traditional Japanese Binding Technique
6.5" x 5.5"
1999