Siamese Fighting Fish Painting

Born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Silver Bay, Minnesota, I began my Graphic Arts education in 1972 after serving in the U.S. Army. I moved to Bismarck, ND in 1975 to work for Dakota Printing. Freelance jobs started in the early 1980’s which led to art fair weekends across the midwest. I became a self employed artist in 1991 when I joined Impact. I designed the blueprints for the 60 foot, bald eagle sculpture in Bismarck’s Custer Park. In 1998, United Tribes Technical College hired me to chair it’s Art/Art Marketing Department where I taught drawing, painting, graphic design and sculpture until December 2015. In 2002 I created a 25 foot X 24 foot landscape mural at the Prime Care Medical Mall. Clouds are airbrushed on the ceiling to enhance the serene “outdoor” park setting. During 2005 I created a life-sized horse sculpture and 24 foot X 8 foot backdrop mural for the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum in Medora, ND. The horse stands in front of a panoramic backdrop of the North Dakota Badlands. Along with my students over a five year period, we completed five permanent eagle sculptures for the city of Bismarck along the river walk. In 2009 I was contracted by Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts to create a sky mural depicting thunderbirds and spirit war ponies amidst swirling storm clouds for the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology’s exhibit titled “Wiyohpiyata” (”Powers of the West”). During 2010 I attended New York University where I took a course in Public Art Policies. My project was to write a Public Art Policy for the city of Bismarck. My student Interns and I completed trompe loi’ murals for the IDEA Center in Bismarck during the years of 2014-2016. My co-founder of Impact and I developed and implemented creative art programs for Charles Hall Youth Services (group homes for at-risk youth), Prairie Rose Summer Camp - through UTTC, and The Anne Carlson Center where we worked with disabled adults. The Charles Hall Program ran for 10 years, The Prairie Rose Summer Camp is in its third year, and the Anne Carlson program began in 2016. Along with Student Interns we began a long term project with the Bismarck Event Center - creating 4’ X 8’ paintings for the center. This was the beginning of a collection of art from professionals in the Bismarck-Mandan communities. I left UTTC in December of 2016 to focus on my fine arts career.