The strongest influence aesthetically and what adds sentiment to my work is the third-generation farm where my grandpa (b. 1901) grew up and raised his family as well. Although I did not experience the day to day life on a farm, I spent many long summer days there. This and other family farms are in the heart of Michigan (St. Johns, Ovid- Elsie, and Minden City), where not much has changed over these past hundred years. The great surrender to weather, long days of hard labor and the love for the land and family are themes that have shaped who I am.

 Utilizing reclaimed tobacco stakes, old photographs, antique boxes and other retired objects from a by-gone era set the tone for my work. But my interests are not to replicate images from that era, but extract their meaning to tell the deeper story. At times my work is completely abstract, merely reacting in an intuitive way to the materials before me. It is a timeless process I love, connecting the present moment, evoking visceral experiences from long ago, and provoking questions of future outcomes that stem from current choices.