Inspired by Christian reliquaries; ornate cases displayed in churches holding relics like a splinter from the true cross, a piece of bone from a saint or better yet, their arm, heart, or, as with Saint Catherine of Siena, her head. There are even glass reliquary caskets containing an entire Saint. This piece was constructed from painted wood I salvaged from a dumpster and the carved wood heart inside is covered with oxidized copper.
(Private Collection, MA)
Inspired by Christian reliquaries; ornate cases displayed in churches holding relics like a splinter from the true cross, a piece of bone from a saint or better yet, their arm, heart, or, as with Saint Catherine of Siena, her head. There are even glass reliquary caskets containing an entire Saint. This piece was constructed from painted wood I salvaged from a dumpster and the carved wood heart inside is covered with oxidized copper.
(Private Collection, MA)
As with the first version, this box was inspired by European religious reliquaries containing relics of saints: bones, clothing, body parts… The box was found in an abandoned chicken coop in Tuscany. I decided to leave the crayon scribble inside as well as the cracks in the box, reinforcing them with stitching or small copper tabs. The box is surmounted by a piece of gilded picture molding studded with antique, hand cut nails and contains a wooden heart with copper nailed over it.
(Private Collection, Boston, MA)
As with the first version, this box was inspired by European religious reliquaries containing relics of saints: bones, clothing, body parts… The box was found in an abandoned chicken coop in Tuscany. I decided to leave the crayon scribble inside as well as the cracks in the box, reinforcing them with stitching or small copper tabs. The box is surmounted by a piece of gilded picture molding studded with antique, hand cut nails and contains a wooden heart with copper nailed over it.
(Private Collection, Boston, MA)
This is a very old piece made while experimenting with incorporating my collections of scrap metal into my work. I’d gotten to the point where I had boxes and boxes of metal in my studio that had been cleaned, sorted out and labeled. “I don’t want be a 90-year-old man with tons of rusty metal” I said to a friend. As we walked, I told her I had finally made the decision to stop collecting metal and move on with my work. When we reached the corner, I gasped and picked up the most perfectly crushed and rusted bottle cap from the gutter. So much for my integrity.
This is a very old piece made while experimenting with incorporating my collections of scrap metal into my work. I’d gotten to the point where I had boxes and boxes of metal in my studio that had been cleaned, sorted out and labeled. “I don’t want be a 90-year-old man with tons of rusty metal” I said to a friend. As we walked, I told her I had finally made the decision to stop collecting metal and move on with my work. When we reached the corner, I gasped and picked up the most perfectly crushed and rusted bottle cap from the gutter. So much for my integrity.
This texture rubbing of a sacred heart was done from a gravestone in a very old cemetery in Ireland. I had taken a picture of it during a visit with my parents when I was a teenager. Returning to Ireland in my late 20s, and finding myself in the same area, I remembered exactly where the tombstone was because I remembered the view of the water from where it was located. The rubbing is printed on cotton, dyed with coffee and mounted on wood. The “doors” are also wood covered with small pieces of scrap metal from other projects.
This texture rubbing of a sacred heart was done from a gravestone in a very old cemetery in Ireland. I had taken a picture of it during a visit with my parents when I was a teenager. Returning to Ireland in my late 20s, and finding myself in the same area, I remembered exactly where the tombstone was because I remembered the view of the water from where it was located. The rubbing is printed on cotton, dyed with coffee and mounted on wood. The “doors” are also wood covered with small pieces of scrap metal from other projects.
I was raised strictly Roman Catholic until the age of 14, so much of the iconography, opulent materials, scents, imagery, and architecture will always be with me and often inform my work. In this case, the structure of a 3-panel triptych was ideal for this gravestone rubbing done in Ireland. Many of the gravestone carvings are a mixture of traditional Christian imagery, Celtic mythology and organic decorative patterns.
The rubbing, which appears to be Adam and Eve under a tree with what looks like some large chrysanthemums and an arc Angel above them is printed on fabric mounted over a wood structure with copper edging. The doors on this piece for me from a large piece of rusted metal that a good friend gave me as a birthday gift. It was then cut into square, reassembled into a grid using brass nails.
I was raised strictly Roman Catholic until the age of 14, so much of the iconography, opulent materials, scents, imagery, and architecture will always be with me and often inform my work. In this case, the structure of a 3-panel triptych was ideal for this gravestone rubbing done in Ireland. Many of the gravestone carvings are a mixture of traditional Christian imagery, Celtic mythology and organic decorative patterns.
The rubbing, which appears to be Adam and Eve under a tree with what looks like some large chrysanthemums and an arc Angel above them is printed on fabric mounted over a wood structure with copper edging. The doors on this piece for me from a large piece of rusted metal that a good friend gave me as a birthday gift. It was then cut into square, reassembled into a grid using brass nails.
On one of many trips to Ireland, my parents joined me in an effort to research my father’s ancestors from Galway. His grandparents had immigrated to America during the 7-year Irish Potato Famine that began in the mid-1800s. When we arrived in Galway we were told that the last of our relatives who live there had died the year before so we moved on to find a town called,” Gortymadden,” Madden’s Garden.
Like many small towns in Ireland, the center consisted of large, very old trees surrounded by a general store, a church, a pub and a post office all of which were closed.
Mhadaidh – O’Madain
On one of many trips to Ireland, my parents joined me in an effort to research my father’s ancestors from Galway. His grandparents had immigrated to America during the 7-year Irish Potato Famine that began in the mid-1800s. When we arrived in Galway we were told that the last of our relatives who live there had died the year before so we moved on to find a town called,” Gortymadden,” Madden’s Garden.
Like many small towns in Ireland, the center consisted of large, very old trees surrounded by a general store, a church, a pub and a post office all of which were closed.
Mhadaidh – O’Madain
I only knew one of my grandparents, my Mom’s mother, and I absolutely adored her. Made in response to a fatal fall she took backwards down a long flight of stairs, the box is made of found wood with a photograph of my grandmother from 1919 printed on an eggshell. She was someone I always thought of as physically fragile and in hindsight, sometimes mentally fragile.
(Private Collection, Ithaca, NY)
I only knew one of my grandparents, my Mom’s mother, and I absolutely adored her. Made in response to a fatal fall she took backwards down a long flight of stairs, the box is made of found wood with a photograph of my grandmother from 1919 printed on an eggshell. She was someone I always thought of as physically fragile and in hindsight, sometimes mentally fragile.
(Private Collection, Ithaca, NY)
I made this box after a tumultuous year in which events in my life were either going horribly wrong, a bed of nails, or they were absolutely wonderful, a bed of roses. The dried roses were dipped in bees wax to help preserve them and are covered with a glass panel.
(Private Collection, Boston, MA)
I made this box after a tumultuous year in which events in my life were either going horribly wrong, a bed of nails, or they were absolutely wonderful, a bed of roses. The dried roses were dipped in bees wax to help preserve them and are covered with a glass panel.
(Private Collection, Boston, MA)
This small piece is comprised of found wood, a Polaroid transfer on wood in the background and small sea stones from Greece held in with a glass panel.
This small piece is comprised of found wood, a Polaroid transfer on wood in the background and small sea stones from Greece held in with a glass panel.
There was a period of time when I began teaching at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston when all of my time and energy outside of class was devoted to perfecting the bindings I was teaching and developing course content. I was given a show at one of the best galleries in Boston and needed to come up with a body of new work. The easiest way for me to start on this was to do a very simple project: an alphabet. The doors are texture rubbings from and embossed antique book printed on fabric and mounted over wood. Every letter of the alphabet is from a different source: manhole cover rubbings, old typewriters, rubber stamps.
They were printed on fabric, mounted on wood with thin strips of copper between each.
(Private Collection)
There was a period of time when I began teaching at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston when all of my time and energy outside of class was devoted to perfecting the bindings I was teaching and developing course content. I was given a show at one of the best galleries in Boston and needed to come up with a body of new work. The easiest way for me to start on this was to do a very simple project: an alphabet. The doors are texture rubbings from and embossed antique book printed on fabric and mounted over wood. Every letter of the alphabet is from a different source: manhole cover rubbings, old typewriters, rubber stamps.
They were printed on fabric, mounted on wood with thin strips of copper between each.
(Private Collection)
I was raised very strictly Roman Catholic until my early teens. The images and trappings of Christianity are very powerful, often to the point of being overwhelming, particularly for a kid. There are many references to Christian art, especially that of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in a lot of my work. The triptych structure is inspired by altarpieces, shrines and reliquaries.
I often enjoy using the references in a playful way, as in this piece – A traditional sacred structure with a naked guy inside! The covers on this small piece are texture rubbings from antique embossed leather book covers that were then printed on fabric and mounted on wood. The three interior panels are my own photographs.
(Private Collection, Provincetown MA)
I was raised very strictly Roman Catholic until my early teens. The images and trappings of Christianity are very powerful, often to the point of being overwhelming, particularly for a kid. There are many references to Christian art, especially that of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, in a lot of my work. The triptych structure is inspired by altarpieces, shrines and reliquaries.
I often enjoy using the references in a playful way, as in this piece – A traditional sacred structure with a naked guy inside! The covers on this small piece are texture rubbings from antique embossed leather book covers that were then printed on fabric and mounted on wood. The three interior panels are my own photographs.
(Private Collection, Provincetown MA)
This large triptych (approx 5ft tall) came from some musings on the spaces we occupy during our existence. The shape is one I used often in various prints, drawings and three-dimensional pieces. The exterior is stained wood embellished with barbed wire and small pieces of rectangular and triangular wood. The interior was a near-life-size, self-portrait, resting peacefully, scratched into pigmented wax medium. I really liked it but a lot of people thought it was very creepy, so the entire triptych was eventually dismantled, cut up and cannibalized for other projects.
This large triptych (approx 5ft tall) came from some musings on the spaces we occupy during our existence. The shape is one I used often in various prints, drawings and three-dimensional pieces. The exterior is stained wood embellished with barbed wire and small pieces of rectangular and triangular wood. The interior was a near-life-size, self-portrait, resting peacefully, scratched into pigmented wax medium. I really liked it but a lot of people thought it was very creepy, so the entire triptych was eventually dismantled, cut up and cannibalized for other projects.
This piece was made for a benefit auction. Invited artists were given a plain, wooden tissue box to embellish anyway they chose. I changed the orientation of the box, removed the top, cut it in half and made doors which are covered with a varnished grid of small squares of brown paper bag and black thread. Inside are five small, glass bottles each with a polaroid “lift “ printed on them and sealed with beeswax. The portraits include a Victorian gentleman, a sailor from the from the 1930s and 2 mid-century athletes.
(Private Collection, Provincetown, MA)
This piece was made for a benefit auction. Invited artists were given a plain, wooden tissue box to embellish anyway they chose. I changed the orientation of the box, removed the top, cut it in half and made doors which are covered with a varnished grid of small squares of brown paper bag and black thread. Inside are five small, glass bottles each with a polaroid “lift “ printed on them and sealed with beeswax. The portraits include a Victorian gentleman, a sailor from the from the 1930s and 2 mid-century athletes.
(Private Collection, Provincetown, MA)