title unknown
bronzework
Thank you, Bud and Betty Micheels, for awarding me the Student Artist-In-Residence grant. The art and technology emphasis has added a challenging dimension to my final year at Stout as an art student. You had a vision for growth that enabled Stout to develop the largest undergrad art department in the State of Wisconsin. It is only natural that you would propose and fund a grant such as this.
This show is dedicated to a teacher I have had for eight semesters. He is now
my mentor and friend. He is truly a student's teacher and encourages personal
growth in a way that would make Bud Micheels proud. His insight has helped
me make a smooth transition from one career to another. He has never said, "No,
you can't do it," but "you can do anything you want," often
enough that I came to believe it. Thank you, Humphrey Gilbert, from the
bottom of my heart! You are a terrific human being and teacher!
Art, by it's very nature, is frequently a by-product of technology. We've come
a long way since blowing pigment on cave walls through reeds. An observant
woman probably realized the potential of fired clay in an ancient cooking
pit. Each century has added to man's use of new processes to aid life with
practical tools, which, while functional, also were vehicles for artistic
expression. Rather simple technologies reflect the naturally inspired quality
of my work. Although the mere mention of the word technology often evokes
the thought of computers, machines, and a related sense of impersonal construction,
I think technology is more humanized through my style of art.
My proposal was to create containers that evoke the viewer's curiosity and
invite interaction. They can be precious objects which hold even smaller
treasures which may be memorials to some of life's passages. They can be
a type of personal shrine for fond memories. There seems to be a human
desire to preserve the mementos of our life and containers fill this function
well. They have highly individual meaning as each owner selects personal
contents. They don't even have to be opened for the memory to be evoked
as their mere presence is able to remind you of multiple connections to
the past. My goal was to push the concept of container combining art and
technology in a riskier structure. The reality was that I was humbled in
my year of experimentation and I didn't do everything that I would have
liked to have done. My hope is, however, that you enjoy my work and think
about what you might place inside each one or what connections they make
to your life.
