My relationship to the natural world was sparked at my grandparent’s cabin on Bay Lake. I loved going to the cabin as a kid and playing in the forest and water. My family lived on a small lake in Shoreview, and I had an appaloosa horse. I loved reading about indigenous people interacting with their horses like family. I almost always rode bareback and loved exploring the farmland around us. In the60’s I was influenced by the emerging environmental movement for clean air and water. The ... view more »
My relationship to the natural world was sparked at my grandparent’s cabin on Bay Lake. I loved going to the cabin as a kid and playing in the forest and water. My family lived on a small lake in Shoreview, and I had an appaloosa horse. I loved reading about indigenous people interacting with their horses like family. I almost always rode bareback and loved exploring the farmland around us. In the60’s I was influenced by the emerging environmental movement for clean air and water. The realization that Mankind was having such a detrimental impact on the natural world motivated me. I have carried those concerns with me for over 50 years and they have always influenced my subject matter. In 1973 I bought 120 acres in Ottertail County. I considered myself the steward of those rolling fields and maple forest. This period expanded my concept of how to treat the natural world around me. Today, back in the cities, accelerated climate change reinforces those beliefs. I paint primordial elements: rivers, lakes, fields, forests and the sea. I have a particular affinity for rivers and their metaphorical endlessness. These elements are indeed alive and in flux. They were here long before and will be long after our brief lifetimes.
These days I like to sketch while solo kayaking. I expand those color drawings into oil paintings in the studio. By painting imagery of our vanishing flora and native landscapes it is my hope they will remind us of the beauty that resides off the beaten path. “We are nature too.” ~Shakespeare
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