top of page

My Story

I was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada way back in the last century. All of my grandparents were Mennonites who came from Southern Russia (now Ukraine) in the early 1900s. When I was six, we moved to Kansas where my father began attending college.

 

My memories are that I was always making things, although I believed that I had no “artistic” abilities because of a shaming that took place in third grade. My teacher took the picture that I had worked on in class, showed the class, and proclaimed how awful it was. You can click onto this video to hear the story of how I became a sculptor in spite of my third-grade experience.

                                                             VIDEO

 

When I was 26, I started blowing glass, using the flame of a torch to manipulate rods and tubes of glass into forms. I opened a small store on the Oregon coast in the town of Florence. I also did shows at fairs and in shopping malls during the Christmas season.

 

Later I took sculpture classes at a local college here in Portland, Oregon, and was introduced to the work of modern sculptors. These studies had an influence on my work. You can see pictures of some of those glass sculptures that are available for sale.

 

In the 1990s I took classes to learn how to cast bronze sculptures and set up a small foundry in our back yard for that purpose, although I now work with a full-size local foundry.

 

In addition to my sculptural work, almost 30 years agp I invented a tool called the Coiling Gizmo. With this tool, crafters and artists can use wire to make unique and beautiful jewelry. Various models of this tool are now sold in many countries across the world. Thank you for dropping by my website!

                                                     COILING GIZMO DEMO

bottom of page