Artist's Statement for the First Web PageAugust 2000

I have spent most of my life as a scientist, and have been a physician since the late seventies. During much of my medical career I used meditation and guided imagery with patients to discover the roots of their pain and illness. In this work, as in my own personal work, I began to recognize parallels to the larger world.

I came to realize that the true illness of the human race needs something other than medicine or surgery. I began working in clay in around 1990, mostly independently in my home, taking occasional workshops and classes at the community college.

Clay comes from rivers, and to me it seems to carry with it the quick movement and emotional impact of running water. A major theme of my clay work is an ongoing study on the role of trauma in distorting human identity and relationships, and in creating denial states which lead to profoundly self-destructive behaviors.

In 1997 I began working in stone, as a student of Amana Johnson.
Stone, emerging from the mountains, reminds me of the universal and eternal, what is noble in humanity despite all betrayals, that which links us to the stars. Most of these stone pieces have also been cast in bronze.

I believe that we must break free of denial and bear witness to our own and one another's pain. We must do so holding in our hearts our connection to the stars, the mountains, the vast larger world within which we live, the unimaginable beauty in which we participate. How else can we heal the world and have hope for a future as a species?