Vintage Surf Fins - #2 Sculpture

An artist once told me that good art tells a story. Growing up in the rugged hills of the Appalachian Mountains with my blue collared parents and six other brothers and sisters, makes for a pretty good story, or at least a beginning to a story. Art quickly sparked my interests in my elementary years, but it wasn't until my early college career that I realized there was power and influence behind art. The fact that I could tell a story without having to write, intrigued me. My pursuit of art began a few years ago when I signed up for a two dimensional art class on a whim. I thought for sure I was in over my head under the direction of Artist and Print Maker Michael Marling. I was the recipient of a full military scholarship at North Georgia's Senior Military College. A degree in art wasn't practical and didn't exactly complement my future military career, but in the end it was my artistic talent, faith and family that trumped my foreboding military plans. At North Georgia I worked in acrylic and gouche' paint and quickly became a respected art student in the studio art program. As a result of an unfortunate medical discharge from the Army's Reserve program, however, I knew I had to quickly expand my opportunities to remain an art student. Transferring to Young Harris College, I was able to learn sculpture under the direction of Folk Artist and Dean of Arts, Ted Wisenhunt from whom I took much inspiration. I also developed stencil, graffiti and digital design program skills under Artist and Cinematographer Jeremy Waltman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At Young Harris I was chosen to exhibit artwork in a juried student art show. My work included a graffiti self portrait on wood, a bondo sculpture, and a Folk sculpture from scrap metal and wood. After working with the bondo and wood together for the first time, I felt that I had achieved and captured my own identity in the artwork I created. My folk drawings and other various paintings also appeared throughout Young Harris College's annual Corn Creek Publication. I have since combined and added processes to my preferred method of creating art, which include printmaking and photo manipulation. Combining photographic images with wood has become something of a foundation for expressing human nature, feelings, habits and emotions in my artwork. When combined with my stencil and printmaking skills, this artwork becomes a history of childhood, a sense of identity and the structure of life.