Louis Moffett

I grew up in New Orleans and spent many childhood hours drawing. At age 7, I took painting classes in the French Quarter, where I sold one of my first paintings to a studio visitor. In high school I carved my first wood figures. I have always been fascinated with the shapes in nature (e.g., the human figure, watercourses, landscapes, and especially mountains). I preferred sculptures over drawings and paintings because of their solidity and substance, an outer form with an internal core, just like a person.
At Louisiana State University I studied psychology and philosophy (including the philosophy of art) and earned my Ph.D. in clinical psychology. My academic interests were in the psychology of art, and I published papers on theories of art appreciation and did research on the relations between sculpture preferences and personality traits. During those years I also took studio classes in drawing, jewelry-making, and sculpture (clay, plaster, wood, and stone) and sold my first wood sculpture to a Professor of Sculpture. After university, I moved to the Palo Alto, California, where I practiced psychology until retiring in 2014. Throughout that time I continued to do photography, sculpture, and painting, as well as taking dr...