Work samples

  • Wet Cocoon.jpg
    Wet Cocoon.jpg
    Fresh clean water is what is really the final frontier. This 13' hanging wrapped cocoon is what I think is the last of the hose wrapped "Water Wars" pieces.
  • Synergy
    Synergy
    Hundreds of old copper pipe fittings soldered together to create this chaotic complex simple human scaled egg like form. The egg for me is a symbol of re-birth.
  • The Shroud
    The Shroud
    Locust bowel from tree, which had old brass keys bent and shaped to the contour of the surface. The keys were soldered together to form a protective mirror of the surface. I show the tree and community of keys separately in relationship to each other.
  • The Mound
    The Mound
    100's of re-inventing the wheel peace signs thrown in to a mound. We need to rethink so much of the choices we make today. Mounds can be formed in a day or over millennia. They represent, for me, repetition.

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About Brent

I grew up the son of a plumber in Harford County,Maryland. At twenty-four, I purchased 20 acres of undeveloped forest. It was there that I started trusting my intuition and allowed myself to play with the materials of the forest.  There I owned the artist in me. Within a year or so, I started taking art classes at the local community college. I spent the next three years at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), while doing carpentry and small contracting to pay the bills. During the summer of 1988, I attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. I earned a BFA from… more

Recent piece completed in 2016 & 2017

 These are samples of pieces I have finished in the past two years. I'm pleased with the recently finished hanging piece titled "Wet Cocoon", it's the 3rd and I think final piece in the , Water Wars series. (at least ones using old garden hoses) 
 Next group of images. I had been thinking of stacking the toilets bowl for awhile, as I kicked the idea around there was something about the Burgher of Calais that kept pushing into my consciousness. I stilled don’t know the connection but trust  in my intuition, so will look into those thoughts as time goes on. I did a few rough sketches and started to keep my eyes open for discarded white toilet.
 Then I was asked to be part of a show  at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center in Portsmouth, VA. The show was called Vanishing Beauty on the theme of sea level rise and mountain top removal. I felt that the tower could fold into that theme. The curator and I discussed it and she like the concept and the elegant form the bowls stacked one on top of another created. (I sent her images of 3 bowls stack up to give her an idea of how the final piece would look).
I'd like to have the bowl translated into cast iron, so the bowl are more durable and can be cantilevered in ways that might elude more to the Burghers of Calais.  2 of the images are of  the "Tidal Flush" re-installed near my studio. 
 I've also included four images from the piece call "The Basic Shapes of Nature", made from a large tree trunk and corks and 2 smaller studies that I've finished recently.
        
  • Wet Cocoon, Water Wars #3
    Wet Cocoon, Water Wars #3
    It's good to keep ones eyes open. The armature for this piece was a roadside kill. I spotted this beat up kayak many time on my way to and from home. Eventually I got it home to the studio where I let it grew on me for awhile. Finally it came to me, so I re-enforce what now is the upper side of the piece, then hung it and started the wrapping process. It is completely covered with old garden hoses. This is the 3rd and final garden hose piece. I told my studio assistant that when we used up all the hoses that friend and neighbors had brought by the studio that the piece wood be done. Slowly I'm in the process transforming the many pile I've gathered over the years into piece of art.
  • Sea Level Rise, ( 1st study for the Burghers of Calais)
    Sea Level Rise, ( 1st study for the Burghers of Calais)
    From show at Court Yard Gallery in Portsmouth, VA I had been thinking of stacking the toilets bowl for awhile, as I kicked the idea around there was something about the Burgher of Calais that kept pushing into my consciousness. I stilled don’t know the connection but trust more and more in listening to what I realize is my intuition. I did a few rough sketches and started to keep my eyes open for discarded white toilet. Then I was asked to be part of a show on sea level rise and I felt that the tower could fold into the theme. The curator and I discussed it and she like the concept and the elegant form the bowls stacked one on top of another created. (I sent her images of 3 bowls stack up to give her an idea of how the final piece would look). I’m planning to have the bowl translated into iron, so I can be more gestural with next in the series. The actual process was pretty straight forward. The tanks were taken off. The bowls were all cleaned well. The 1st bowl was set in its standard positioning. The 2nd was flipped upside down, a lining seat mounting holes and bolted together. The 3rd bowl was then was up right on top of the 2nd bowl and positioned so that what would the floor mounting holes lined up and were bolted together. The rest of the followed in this fashion with a toilet lid siliconed to the top bowl. In getting it ready for the show I had a ¼” x 30” stainless steel round base made. The 1st bowl was bolted and siliconed to the base. I made it so it breaks down in grouping of bowl and is put together with stainless steel nuts, bolts, and washers.
  • Sea Level Rise, ( 1st study for the Burghers of Calais)
    Sea Level Rise, ( 1st study for the Burghers of Calais)
    I had been thinking of stacking the toilets bowl for awhile, as I kicked the idea around there was something about the Burgher of Calais that kept pushing into my consciousness. I stilled don’t know the connection but trust more and more in listening to what I realize is my intuition. I did a few rough sketches and started to keep my eyes open for discarded white toilet. Then I was asked to be part of a show on sea level rise and I felt that the tower could fold into the theme. The curator and I discussed it and she like the concept and the elegant form the bowls stacked one on top of another created. (I sent her images of 3 bowls stack up to give her an idea of how the final piece would look). I’m planning to have the bowl translated into cast iron, so the bowl are more durable and can be cantilevered in ways that might elude to the Burghers of Calais. The actual process was pretty straight forward. The tanks were taken off. The bowls were all cleaned well. The 1st bowl was set in its standard positioning. The 2nd was flipped upside down, a lining seat mounting holes and bolted together. The 3rd bowl was then was up right on top of the 2nd bowl and positioned so that what would the floor mounting holes lined up and were bolted together. The rest of the followed in this fashion with a toilet lid siliconed to the top bowl. In getting it ready for the show I had a ¼” x 30” stainless steel round base made. The 1st bowl was bolted and siliconed to the base. I made it so it breaks down in grouping of bowl and is put together with stainless steel nuts, bolts, and washers. This is how it looks where it is installed now.
  • Sea Level Rise, ( 1st study for the Burghers of Calais)
    Sea Level Rise, ( 1st study for the Burghers of Calais)
    I had been thinking of stacking the toilets bowl for awhile, as I kicked the idea around there was something about the Burgher of Calais that kept pushing into my consciousness. I stilled don’t know the connection but trust more and more in listening to what I realize is my intuition. I did a few rough sketches and started to keep my eyes open for discarded white toilet. Then I was asked to be part of a show on sea level rise and I felt that the tower could fold into the theme. The curator and I discussed it and she like the concept and the elegant form the bowls stacked one on top of another created. (I sent her images of 3 bowls stack up to give her an idea of how the final piece would look). I’m planning to have the bowl translated into cast iron, so the bowl are more durable and can be cantilevered in ways that might elude to the Burghers of Calais. The actual process was pretty straight forward. The tanks were taken off. The bowls were all cleaned well. The 1st bowl was set in its standard positioning. The 2nd was flipped upside down, a lining seat mounting holes and bolted together. The 3rd bowl was then was up right on top of the 2nd bowl and positioned so that what would the floor mounting holes lined up and were bolted together. The rest of the followed in this fashion with a toilet lid siliconed to the top bowl. In getting it ready for the show I had a ¼” x 30” stainless steel round base made. The 1st bowl was bolted and siliconed to the base. I made it so it breaks down in grouping of bowl and is put together with stainless steel nuts, bolts, and washers. This is how it looks where it is installed now.
  • Basic Shapes of Nature
    Basic Shapes of Nature
    Hollow beech tree truck with cork nailed to the outer surface.
  • Basics Shapes of Nature - Interior
    Basics Shapes of Nature - Interior
    Hollow beech tree truck with cork nailed to the outer surface.
  • Basics Shapes of Nature (detail  #1)
    Basics Shapes of Nature (detail #1)
    Hollow beech tree truck with cork nailed to the outer surface.
  • Basics Shapes of Nature (detail #2)
    Basics Shapes of Nature (detail #2)
    Hollow beech tree truck with cork nailed to the outer surface.
  • Horizon Line.jpg
    Horizon Line.jpg
    I'm breaking old things down. Looking and learning how things were put together. This piece is from the legs of an old swivel office chair. I've taken the whole thing apart and this the 2nd piece I've made from those elements. These are the 4 old white oak knees that I've jointed together to form one.
  • Protect the Future
    Protect the Future
    What are the keys to the future? This piece consist of an old piece of cherry wood from a tree that came down in the clearing for my new studio some 15 years ago. This is the forth or fifth piece made from that wood. The keys are soldered together to form a protective semi dome over the wood.

Work for Baltimore Art Museum Show (fall 2015) and beyond.

A variety of new or rework pieces curated for the Baker Artist Winner show at BMA in 2015.
  • Copper Stump Mandala
    Copper Stump Mandala
    I've been working on this piece off and on for over 15 years. It wasn't till this spring that I combined it with this 19th century iron wagon wheel rim that I finally knew it was done. The ring of iron contained and helped to to give the work parameters. I am now satisfied that this is starting to hum.
  • Copper Stump Mandala (angled view)
    Copper Stump Mandala (angled view)
    I've been working on this piece off and on for over 15 years. It wasn't till this spring that I combined it with this 19th century iron wagon wheel rim that I finally knew it was done. The ring of iron contained and helped to to give the work parameters. I am now satisfied that this is starting to hum.
  • My Line Is Old #2
    My Line Is Old #2
    This is an old fire hose coiled up and squeezed into an old window frame. On the back side of the frame is 3/8" galvanized rat wire, also know as hardware clothe. This give the piece a completely different feeling from one side to the next. The frame came as you see it. I only coiled and forced the hose in side to create this relationship. For me this speaks to be trapped.
  • My Line Is Old #2 ( 3 different views)
    My Line Is Old #2 ( 3 different views)
    This is an old fire hose coiled up and squeezed into an old window frame. On the back side of the frame is 3/8" galvanized rat wire, also know as hardware clothe. This give the piece a completely different feeling from one side to the next. The frame came as you see it. I only coiled and forced the hose in side to create this relationship. For me this speaks to be trapped.
  • Every Body Has A Well
    Every Body Has A Well
    This is another of those piece I starter 5 years ago or so, but it just never felt right to me each time I showed it. The proportions just weren't working for me, so in the summer of 2015 I made it a foot taller and changed the way I handled the ends. The title refers to finding that place where we feel centered, where we can recharge and feel safe.
  • Gravity Does Not Discriminate (detail)
    Gravity Does Not Discriminate (detail)
    Hanging cluster of old nails held to recycled stereo speaker magnet. What holds us together?
  • Gravity Does Not Discriminate
    Gravity Does Not Discriminate
    Hanging cluster of old nails held to recycled stereo speaker magnet. What holds us together?
  • Re-Inventing the Wheel #2(bronze)
    Re-Inventing the Wheel #2(bronze)
    From Re-inventing the Wheel series, this tire side wall for the peace sign was translated into bronze with beaten copper pipe center symbol.
  • Never Forget(front view)
    Never Forget(front view)
    wood, leather, & brass, 16"x 4"x 3" When shut, the secret seems safe.
  • Never Forget#1.jpg
    Never Forget#1.jpg
    wood, leather, & brass, 16"x 4"x 3" When shut, the secret seems safe.

Works With Wood And Trees

Looking for answers in the woods.
  • Mandala
    Mandala
    32'x 30'x 30' (not counting the tree), wood This was one of a group of installations I did in the early 90's using twenty eight 28' to 32' locust tree poles off of my land. These poles were used in each installation. In making the piece, I worked with the Park Service to assure them that the 1 year installation would not harm the 150 year old southern red oak. A good friend and I spent a day climbing and hoisting the poles into the tree. We spent hours arranging and weaving the poles into position. For this work it was important to me that only gravity and the interlocking tension kept the piece in place. It surprised me how these poles created a separate space once you crossed inside the poles. This was a celebration of this tree and all trees throughout world.
  • Council Elders
    Council Elders
    wood & copper, 7'x 4'x 4'
  • Portable Cathedral
    Portable Cathedral
  • Who's Holding Who
    Who's Holding Who
    wood, 7' x 3' x 1' These are 3 young ash trees Y turned upside down, then stacked one on top of the other with smallest at the bottom supporting the other two larger pieces. Carrying them through life.
  • The Wall
    The Wall
    wood, 6'x4'x6'
  • Where's Your Forest?
    Where's Your Forest?
    5"x 2'x 2' , wood This is the first of the chiseled cedar tree groupings. This was a winter piece. A time when we pull in to reflect and prepare for the coming season.
  • 500 Year Old Tree #3
    500 Year Old Tree #3
    wood (cedar) & steel 4' x 28" x 28" I chiseled down to the heartwood on many snow fallen cedar trees stopping to create a gentle curve running through the forest of heartwood. This is one of the many pieces I've created over the years where I'm searching for a way to create a 500 year old tree, which of course cannot be done. That's the point. We may be able to do many new and amazing things, but if we screw up the environment will there be more healthy 500 year old trees for future generations to marvel at?
  • Helped Me With The Fall
    Helped Me With The Fall
    7'x 2'x 4', wood This is another in the chiseled cedars series. I had just started working on this piece on September 11th. 2001. The chiseling did help me through that and the following days. The events of that day caused so many thoughts and ideas that eventually I set this piece aside to work on other new projects, but this piece was always in my consciousness. Over ten years, as different cedar trees found their way into my possession (heavy snows are good for that), I slowly worked this sculpture into completion.
  • Old Habits Can Become Second Nature
    Old Habits Can Become Second Nature
    6'x 9'x 3', wood & old steel shovel heads This is another piece from the "Digging Our Own Graves" series. In this evolution I've created an old tool hanger for 3 of the shovels. An old slab of the outer piece of a milled cherry tree from my childhood home is used as the main support. Then I mounted into this 3 small Y-shaped limbs for the shovel trees to hang from. It has become an old habit to not think about how certain actions are hurting our environment.
  • Forest Wheel #3
    Forest Wheel #3
    wood, tracter tire sidewall, & stainless steel bolts 3'x 3'x 3' Many forests have remnants of the Industrial Revolution.

Old Brass Keys

I've been collecting old keys for years. I believe that they hold onto a kind of history. When I went through a long period of being ill I struggled with how to keep working. I was forced to work small and create pieces where many small steps could eventually add up to something more.
  • Yes!
    Yes!
    5" x 5" x 5" old brass keys
  • The Egg Within
    The Egg Within
    On one level, these egg forms I started making a few years ago, were part of a sense of rebirth I had. These keys were first annealed, then soldered over a carved wooden form, which eventually was completely burned into a smaller form. old brass keys & wood 13" x 9" x 9"
  • Change Can Be Easy (detail)
    Change Can Be Easy (detail)
    Often I've just been making a reflection of the Earth. This partial dome has a small opening at the apex to allow room for growth creativity and breath. old brass keys 10" x 26" x 26"
  • Change Be Can Easy
    Change Be Can Easy
    Often I've just been making a reflection of the Earth. This partial dome has a small opening at the apex to allow room for growth creativity and breath. old brass keys 10" x 26" x 26"
  • Wye Keys
    Wye Keys
    These little chunks of wood came from the Wye Oak in Wye Mill, Maryland. It was the oldest white oak in America. When it fell in 2002, this ancient tree was estimated to be 460 years old. The acorn that sprouted into the Wye Oak would have done so about the same time Michelangelo was finishing The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. I feel this wood is part of the sacred heritage of this land. By binding a key to these small pieces of the oak, I've created a relationship. The Wye Oak represents the last 460 years. What is the key to the next 460 years? Each used key is lashed to a piece of the Wye Oak with re-cycled copper wire. We are all bound together. old brass keys & wood each piece is 2" to 4" in any dimension
  • The Shroud (detail of burnt wood crotch)
    The Shroud (detail of burnt wood crotch)
    old brass keys & wood 90" x 60" x 10"
  • The Shroud (detail of crotch)
    The Shroud (detail of crotch)
    old brass keys & wood, 90" x 60" x 10"
  • The Shroud
    The Shroud
    old brass keys & wood, 90" x 60" x 10" This is the last of the long term projects I started and stopped many times in a 4 year period while recovering from health issues. The keys were shaped and fitted over this locust tree Y, then carefully soldered together to mirror and protect the surface in their own way. The keys shade and become a shodow of this piece of nature (the tree), while they also are able to stand alone if they need to. The tree, when inverted, is two grounding forces merging into one.
  • You're The Key (detail)
    You're The Key (detail)
    I punched the word HOPE into each of these keys before soldering them into this sphere. We need more hope in this world we've created. old brass keys 5" x 5" x 5"
  • You're The Key
    You're The Key
    I punched the word HOPE into each of these keys before soldering them into this sphere. We need more hope in this world we've created. old brass keys 5" x 5" x 5"

These are early pieces that came from wrestling with thought provoked through 9/11

These are pieces I did right after 9/11 and in the following year or so.

There are four works in this group that I think of as the four emotional seasons of grappling with the events of 9/11 and all its ramifications to our world.
  • TheCave.jpg
    TheCave.jpg
  • The Cave detail.jpg
    The Cave detail.jpg
  • The Mound #1 (3).jpg
    The Mound #1 (3).jpg
  • Who Broke The World.jpg
    Who Broke The World.jpg
  • Who Broke The World(detail).jpg
    Who Broke The World(detail).jpg
  • Tolerance.JPG
    Tolerance.JPG
  • Brent Crothers the Mound

Collection of Smaller Works

Why don't I throw much away? There many layers to this answer. I see the value in many things we just discard in todays in western societies. It just has always seemed natural that instead of throwing something out, meaning putting it into the garbage, where it will be trucked to some landfill to be buried into the ground (this is the out of sight out of mind game we play), I would rather hold onto things so someone else might use it, or some part of it.  At least it might be re-cycled in some fashion or another, or if it can't be used for anything, often it will still have some scrap value. Is that not a best use of these raw materials? Is this not good for the planet?
In this section some of the pieces are made from old copper wire. I share with you the evolution of hundreds of pieces of copper wire collected over many years. When I started one sculpture I had no real idea except to create a sphere from all my old wire. A project like that happens over many years. I start and stop many times, but it is ongoing. Maybe I'm a turtle in some dimension, but slowly over time and many thoughts the pieces comes to life.
Other small studies come different ideas, but each one has its story of its origins 
  • Divine Circles
    Divine Circles
    1'x1'x1' copper coated wire At every stage of a piece I stop to take in what is going on. What has happened here? Many pieces are actually a series of pieces that you just keep transforming one into another. This one could have been done at many different points along the way, but I wanted to keep pushing it.
  • Optimism
    Optimism
    wood & copper wire, 7"x 4"x 5"
  • Hope and Reason
    Hope and Reason
    wood and glass, 36"x 8"x 3" This piece of locust was something left from wood I ripped to make a retaining wall over 20 years ago. It hung around and hung around and I'm not sure why, but it did. What I mean by this is that very easily it could have gotten used in any number of projects around here, but it did not and eventually we developed a rapport. I then knew that at some time it would become part of a piece. The bottle has a whole different history. I've lived here for 30 years and have never thrown any bottle away that has shown up here. This bottle is one of a number of bottles that carried alternative elixirs we were taking at one time. I was drawn to the bottles instantly and fooled around with different ways to bring them into my work. Then this idea of tightly chiseling a cavity into the locust wood hit me. The space I made for the bottle is so snug that once I firmly forced the bottle in it stay there on its own
  • Wall Mandala (part of the 500 yr, Old Tree series)
    Wall Mandala (part of the 500 yr, Old Tree series)
    wood & steel, 28"x 28"x 6" Years ago I made a number of outdoor installations using many different woods from the forest where I work. In a way it was cleaning up of the forest of lots of the fallen trees. This was a smaller sketch that gave the feeling of the larger pieces
  • Still Digging Our Own Graves #5
    Still Digging Our Own Graves #5
    bronze & steel, 5'x 2'x 2" This is part of a series I started many years ago. The original pieces were made by creating the shovel handles with the top of fallen cedar trees. This second generation is made by tranforming the cedar tree handle into bronze. It is amazing how the bronzing process can pick up every detail from the cedar tree. Often people don't even realize it's not wood.
  • Two Into One
    Two Into One
    wood, 18"x 10"x 10" In this study I've joined two crotches together to create one from.
  • Groping For Symmetry
    Groping For Symmetry
    copper wire & wood, 16"x 16"x 16" I made this crude tetrahedron from chain-sawed wood. Then over a couple of years I wrapped it with used copper wire seaching for some kind of balance. Maybe that what I'm looking for on some level in my life and works, a sense of balance.
  • Ode To Cloy
    Ode To Cloy
    wood & copper wire, 8"x 4"x 2" Cloy Gahagan was my grandfather. Each day I grow more like him, though he has been gone for over ten years now.
  • Twins: Form and Function
    Twins: Form and Function
    wood, 16"x 14"x 6" These were two very different funky rollers that talked me into becoming one piece.
  • Constrict
    Constrict
    This is another piece I did at a residency. I's made from a found piece of wood that I hacked away from its center, then took a found piece of old copper roofing and it to from a type collar to protect the chiseled away form. Latter I settle in and mounted it to a re-cycled piece of marble. It was top heavy and need the weight of the base.

Wrapping & Bindings

Creating forms through wrapping and binding.
  • The Bishop
    The Bishop
    This wrapping kind evolved with out a clear plan. I knew the double tank armature was going to be covered by wrapping miscellaneous stuff I had round the studio. I ended up wrapping the lower tank with non-organic wires and tubing, then I wrapped the top tank with more organic cotton string, jute, yarn, and bailing twine. It took me sometime to resolve joining point, but resolved to wrap copper wire at that junction. I've come to feel that copper is very feminine and don't the women of the really hold things together?
  • Looking East
    Looking East
    vines & steel wire, 5' x 5' x 6' I saw old wire cages stacked as I drove by a farm. I then took my old tomato cages and made this triangular stack with the vision of interweaving the wild fox grapevines to create this relationship. I was pulling them from the tree in the area that was to become my home. From a distance the sphere seemed to rotate and hover.
  • My Line  Is Old
    My Line Is Old
    old fire hose, 21" x 24" x 4" One old fire hose that is wrapped in such a way that it represents the three basic shapes in nature.
  • My Line  Is Old (detail)
    My Line Is Old (detail)
    old fire hose, 21" x 24" x 4" One old fire hose that is wrapped in such a way that it represents the three basic shapes in nature.
  • Compressing the Centuries
    Compressing the Centuries
    wood & copper wire, 3" x 2" x 2" Copper wire wrapped tightly around a short cedar limb, which was then soaked and beaten repeatedly, smashing and breaking the fibers of wood. How does one capture the weight of a century?
  • We Are One
    We Are One
    wood & copper wire, 12"x 12"x 4" Is the copper wire wedge joining or holding the spilt Y apart or together? What holds us apart or together?
  • Frustration to Creation
    Frustration to Creation
    wood & copper, 24"x6"x6" This is made from a piece of locust wood that one evening in a moment of anger I slammed against an old log many times. I did this so I didn't direct my anger at those I love. A few days later I happened to look at this piece of wood and saw how my beating of the wood had split it into 4 quarters. There was some thing in this that spoke to me. After pondering on this piece of wood for a few days I decided to transform what was started in a moment of anger into something of beauty. First, from heavy copper wire I made 2 tightly fitted rings to keep the top of wood from splitting any further. I then meticulously crammed and jammed copper wire into the cracks forcing the wood apart. As I continued down I forced more and more wire into the split apart spaces until I reach the bottom where this 2" limb had now spread out to 6". To complete the piece I manipulated the wire at the base into a round pregnant type form that only touched the ground in the middle of of what now became the 4 wooden feet.
  • Impasse
    Impasse
    tree & vines 40' x 5' x 5' This is a piece I created after discovering a 19th century road on my property. These vine wrappings came about while I was a young man clearing my land and owning my artistry. I cleared this old road way over the course of a year, but left one tree in the middle of it. Then I wrapped and wove this 5' ball of vines through and around the crotch of the tree. I now had a road, but there was an impasse meaning it couldn't be used after all that work. This helped me to take a closer look at other places in my own life where I had created my own personal impasses.
  • Western Logic
    Western Logic
    wood & copper, 24" x 24" x 18" This sculpture was done at the turn of the century. It is 2,000 feet of copper wire tightly wrapped around a cross section from an old locust tree. I then made a locust wood spike and beat it through the center of the wire and the hollow part of the cross section of the old locust tree. I like the tension between the copper wire and wood, the tension between the 20th & 21st centuries.
  • Don't Give Up
    Don't Give Up
    string 12" x 8" x 8" This is all the string that was being thrown away from one of the 1st day projects in a 3-D class I taught. I untangled and tied all the string pieces together. Then I wound them around a small armature until they slowly started to transform into this egg type form.

Why I Finally Gave In To Working With Copper Pipe, Wire, & Nails.

Many projects using old and re-cycled copper pipe and other types of collected used copper things.
  • Why Not Care? (detail)
    Why Not Care? (detail)
    wood & copper nails, 7' x 3' x 1' This piece was created by searching out this Y from a fallen cherry tree. Starting at a chosen point on each limb, copper roofing nails were driven in. Each nail touched another in a continuous spiral up the limb untill they converged at the crotch and continued on to the top of the trunk. The small copper circles form this almost fish scale surface covering the wood. Then the piece was placed in a large fire for 15 minutes to char the rest of the exposed surface. To me, copper has come to feel like a feminine energy, while wood is more in the realm of the masculine. I think of the round-headed copper roofing nails as individual prayers or meditations with their female healing presence. In this sculpture one prayer leads to the next protecting the upper portion of the piece.
  • Why Not Care?
    Why Not Care?
    wood & copper nails, 7' x 3' x 1' This piece was created by searching out this Y from a fallen cherry tree. Starting at a chosen point on each limb, copper roofing nails were driven in. Each nail touched another in a continuous spiral up the limb untill they converged at the crotch and continued on to the top of the trunk. The small copper circles form this almost fish scale surface covering the wood. Then the piece was placed in a large fire for 15 minutes to char the rest of the exposed surface. To me, copper has come to feel like a feminine energy, while wood is more in the realm of the masculine. I think of the round-headed copper roofing nails as individual prayers or meditations with their female healing presence. In this sculpture one prayer leads to the next protecting the upper portion of the piece.
  • Face The Storm
    Face The Storm
    wood & copper pipe, 9' x 2' x 1', I love the Ys of trees. By turning them upside down, the two limbs rise up to bocome one. This is a locust Y with a canoe type gouge in each leg.(ritual scars) One has been charred with fire and the other has soft copper pipe drilled and beaten into it. I once heard a story about how the plains buffalo would slowly walk into a blizzards to stay alive.They faced the storm. In the spring of 2001 when I was making this piece I wondered if we had the courage to face our on coming storms.
  •  No Boundaries
    No Boundaries
    wood & copper nails, 6"x 12"x 12", This piece was a practice sketch for the large hanging piece called "Who Broke The World?" It was the first time I used the copper nails as a visual component in a piece. This is the crotch from a big limb that I've rounded off, so if you turned it upside down it would fit in a large bowl. Then I started driving nails in the center of each of the 3 cut off parts of the crotch, (where the limbs join). From each center the nails spiral out to the edge covering the cut surface. I see the copper nails as protecting, a healing of the surface.
  • Working for a History (detail of top)
    Working for a History (detail of top)
    wood & soft copper pipe, 40"x 18"x 18" Up to this point I had subconsciously not worked with copper pipe for it was just too closely related to my family and their plumbing livelihood . Before that moment I still needed some level of separation. For this piece I took 9 old porch posts and joined them together to create a mass, then rounded off the top so the form looked worn down. Next I figured out through trial and error how to get the copper pipe to become one with the wood. I came up with process of drilling holes into the wood and then driving the pipe in. From there I would bend the pipe back and forth, while beating it down, occasionally using a copper nail to hold it when needed, then making sure to fold back over the nail. I wanted only beaten copper pipe visible on the surface. The final copper surface turned out more beautiful then I could have imagined.
  • Working for a History
    Working for a History
    wood & soft copper pipe, 40"x 18"x 18" Up to this point I had subconsciously not worked with copper pipe for it was just too closely related to my family and their plumbing livelihood . Before that moment I still needed some level of separation. For this piece I took 9 old porch posts and joined them together to create a mass, then rounded off the top so the form looked worn down. Next I figured out through trial and error how to get the copper pipe to become one with the wood. I came up with process of drilling holes into the wood and then driving the pipe in. From there I would bend the pipe back and forth, while beating it down, occasionally using a copper nail to hold it when needed, then making sure to fold back over the nail. I wanted only beaten copper pipe visible on the surface. The final copper surface turned out more beautiful then I could have imagined.
  • Everyone Has a Well
    Everyone Has a Well
    copper 6' x 9" x 3" Many layers of heated copper wire are wrapped around a ladder made from copper pipe. The wire contracts and tightens as it cools. Sometimes we all just need a little help to see the light.
  • Future Past
    Future Past
    wood & beaten copper pipe, 7'x 2'x 2' This weathered locust wood tripod stood in one of my gardens for years until I had the vision for this piece.I brought it into my old studio which had just about a 7' tall ceiling. (That's why in that period my large indoor pieces all ended up being about 7' tall.) To make the copper sphere, I started beating 3/4" soft copper pipe flat, then came up with a way to wrap and weave and beat it into a 70 lb solid copper ball. Next, I created a way to crudely pry open the legs and fix the sphere, so it is pinned inside the tripod. When I finished this piece it felt outside of time.
  • What Makes Us Human? (detail)
    What Makes Us Human? (detail)
    wood & copper pipe, 78"x 28"x 6" Often I come up with an idea and then it may take months or years to find the right piece of wood to make the piece come alive. This sculpture started with an old piece of copper pipe that I put a branched piece of wood into.Then I could not find another branched piece that fit as snugly as the first. I set it aside to work on another sculpture, but often checked on other pieces of wood to see if one might fit.. Then after a year or so I found the right one. I chiseled both pieces of wood lightly so they slid down into the pipe and then used a double ended lag screw to hook the two pieces of wood together with the copper pipe in between them. (see close up)
  • What Makes Us Human?
    What Makes Us Human?
    wood & copper pipe, 78"x 28"x 6" Often I come up with an idea and then it may take months or years to find the right piece of wood to make the piece come alive. This sculpture started with an old piece of copper pipe that I put a branched piece of wood into.Then I could not find another branched piece that fit as snugly as the first. I set it aside to work on another sculpture, but often checked on other pieces of wood to see if one might fit.. Then after a year or so I found the right one. I chiseled both pieces of wood lightly so they slid down into the pipe and then used a double ended lag screw to hook the two pieces of wood together with the copper pipe in between them. (see close up)

Where would we be without WATER?

Water Wars Project: Physical forms as a dialogue. We can't live without fresh water.

The 3 human-sized cairn or egg forms "Synergy", "Water Wars #2", and "The Golden Egg"
are the most recent works in this series. They are made to stand alone, but I see them as some kind of trinity. I see them like the three blind mice and the three monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil, and the three wise men all wrapped up into one.

I've also included a few pieces from 20 years ago where I first wrestled with water and our connections to it.
  • Society #3 (detail)
    Society #3 (detail)
    water, wood, rope,& rubber, 7' x 7' x 7' a installation from 1990 Water is hard to control. For this piece to stand it took a multitude of different forces and support systems to come to life. A network A web It became about our inter-connectedness. Who knew these simple crude materials could transform into this. Certainly not I when I began this project. Follow your creativity for it is pregnant with whole new worlds we have yet to discover.
  • Society #4 in the woods
    Society #4 in the woods
    water, wood, rope,& rubber, 7' x 7' x 7' & the forest This version of "Society" was set in a forest glen where it lived for a couple of years. After many hard rains and ice and probably some uv deterioration on the used rubber liner (the liner had been used to line a solar storage tank in the 80's) it ripped and collapsed. It was beautiful when in the winter the rain water that had collected turned to a solid chunk of ice.
  • Water Wars #1
    Water Wars #1
    Old garden hoses tightly wrapped into a sphere. 2' x 2' x 2' The first of the Water Wars Projects. I always loved rolling up big snowballs.
  • Golden Egg #2 (part of the; Water Wars series)
    Golden Egg #2 (part of the; Water Wars series)
    re-cycled tire treads .5' x 3' x 3' Many layers of used tire treads wrapped around an old small fiberglass water tank to create an egg or cocoon type of form. This piece is part of the Water Wars series. The tires are symbolic, for me, of oil and the Industrial Revolution. Oil is part of the root of the many power struggles today, but the real liquid gold of today and the future is fresh water and it will be though the power of oil that it will be controlled.
  • Water Wars #2 (detail)
    Water Wars #2 (detail)
    Old garden hoses wrapped in and around a crude copper armature to from a cairn or egg like form. 6' x 3' x 3'
  • Water Wars #2 (part of the Water Wars series)
    Water Wars #2 (part of the Water Wars series)
    Old garden hoses wrapped in and around a crude copper armature to from a cairn or egg like form. 6' x 3' x 3 Here in America some of us use water like it will always magically be there. Many people just don't think about it. Fresh water in the world is dwindling at a rapid pace. If 100 years ago we had started being more conscientious about how and what we did with our fresh water we might not be in this situation.
  • Synergy (detail)
    Synergy (detail)
    used copper fittings & pipe, 70" x 44" x 44" My brother knew I'd been sick for along time and called to tell me that the price of scrap copper was higher then it had ever been, so one day I walked up to the studio with the intention of gathering the copper for recycling to bring in a little cash. It only took moments for me to realize that there was to much history in these old pipes and fittings to recycle in that manner. Thus started the 3 year project to create this sculpture now known as "Synergy" Many memories merging to make a difference.
  • Synergy (part of the Water Wars series)
    Synergy (part of the Water Wars series)
    used copper fittings & pipe, 70" x 44" x 44" My brother knew I'd been sick for along time and called to tell me that the price of scrap copper was higher then it had ever been, so one day I walked up to the studio with the intention of gathering the copper for recycling to bring in a little cash. It only took moments for me to realize that there was to much history in these old pipes and fittings to recycle in that manner. Thus started the 3 year project to create this sculpture now known as "Synergy" Many memories merging to make a difference.
  • Water Wars #2
    Water Wars #2
    100's of used garden hoses wrapped to from this 5' tall egg like form. We need clean fresh water to survive.

Another sample of Smaller Studies

A group of smaller work done over the last few years. Each piece has its own story of genesis. Sometimes they are working sketches for larger ideas, but often they are a way for me to warm up again, a way to start the fires of creativity flowing.
  • History is Never Far Behind
    History is Never Far Behind
    wood & brass, 14" x 6" x4" This is made from another piece of wood that just kept hanging around my studio. Eventually it was written into a scene. The piece of brass is from an old drain trap. Their marriage is a perfect match.
  • Suffocating The Future
    Suffocating The Future
    10"x 10"x 7", wood & zippered plastic bag I took a bag that enclosed a set of new sheets and cut this piece of wood with a crotch in it, so it tightly squeezed into the bag.Then I zipped it shut. It's kind of like seeing leaves in plastic bags which always bugs me each fall. What a waste on so many levels.
  •  Something For John Muir
    Something For John Muir
    26"x 10"x 16", wood & rubber sole I was taking a walk in and along a stream near my home. I found this old weathered shoe sole. At the time I was reading a book about John Muir, so I did this little sketch. He walked across the US and was instrumental in awakening our consciousness to the majesty of this vast land and that we need to protect it.
  • Skowhegan
    Skowhegan
    10"x 8"x 16", wood Everything has a story, a life before your meeting. This was a chunk of old timber that may have been part of a large old growth tree. There was a growth ring in it that showed me that year must have been a tough one. It had weakened the block so that I was able to take a hammer and knock off the two top corners of the piece. I then made a few simple wedges and tapped them in following the weak year ring. It then became a tree once again. It's important to be close to our surrounding.
  • Something for Brancusi
    Something for Brancusi
    Small study with found material I did on a residency. Base on a sculpture of Brancusi.
  • Who Made The Box Anyway? (detail)
    Who Made The Box Anyway? (detail)
    wood & steel, 18" x 11" x 17" I've always collected things that sparked my curiosity, This hand made tray is something I found while rummaging around an old farm with outbuildings slated to be bulldozed down. I've had the box for years and decided to join it with a grouping of small wooden Y's I've been working with. The Y's fit roughly into the square metal pockets in the tray except for one which stands with others, but outside of the box.
  • Who Made The Box Anyway?
    Who Made The Box Anyway?
    wood & steel, 18" x 11" x 17" I've always collected things that sparked my curiosity, This hand made tray is something I found while rummaging around an old farm with outbuildings slated to be bulldozed down. I've had the box for years and decided to join it with a grouping of small wooden Y's I've been working with. The Y's fit roughly into the square metal pockets in the tray except for one which stands with others, but outside of the box.
  • Nature Deficit Disorder
    Nature Deficit Disorder
    Many people today are cut off from nature today. This is a branch cut from a piece of a cedar wood that I've mounted on stark white panel.
  • Come Together
    Come Together
    9"x 9"x 4", iron & wood In this piece I've used another of the natural wooden junctions or points of convergence that I have been drawn to for years. I call them Y's. In this sketch I've shape a Y so that it fits tightly into this old iron band which was used for the hub of a old wooden wagon wheel. I heated the iron band to expand it before the final fitting of the Y, so as the iron cooled, it tightened around the wood.
  • Consuming Never Works
    Consuming Never Works
    wood, 7"x 6"x 6" Cross-cuts of different cedar limbs stacked together to create this form