Becoming a Man

 Burial 1998 14x11x14 inches

part of the ritual series, something we are so dearly missing 

I am a Man

A Green Man

I speak for the earth

For the trees and the animals

I have spoken all my life

And will speak after my death

Our earth is dying

We are loosing our soul

Men have lost their foundation and their beacon to guide their way

Lost in “things” and not another navigational device nor gadget will lead him home

Home is within, it is the time to go inside, seek, repent and feel

Feel the shame the sadness the anger the guilt and the fear

Feel it

Feel it fully and pick your sorry self up off the kitchen floor

Do something Man

Be a man and find your guiding light

Do this and you will not be lead astray

The earth needs you

The woman and children have been waiting

It’s time to wake up

It’s time to speak up and shout

For the air the water the plants and the animals

They are all your relations

You, your fathers your sons and your brothers that hold the power to heal

It is you that must take the heroes journey

Down into the darkness within your soul

Feel the shame the sadness the anger the guilt and the fear

Then and only then will you feel the true joy it is to be a Man.

Leaving Floyd

My lovely swimming pond.

I’m going to miss this place Floyd Virginia, some famous someone’s wife said Virginia’s the last stop before heaven and Edger Casey felt this is a vortex of consciousness I think that just may be true and with that said all things must change and this is no exception. After five years of living in relative isolation among this two hundred acres of nature preserve with my bugs, the dear, birds, turtles, mice, the so many critters and my neighbor Doug down the road all have become my most unusual friends. The people and the friends I’ve made here, many will be forever and all will be a part of my soul. My heart has opened here it has broken here and it will always be better for all that I have experienced here in Floyd VA.

 It’s time for a new view though, maybe a slight contrast from this town of 400 souls, the one street light, the farms and gardens, the hunters and gatherers, everything here comes directly from the ground, caught, grown or made. I am moving to NYC, Brooklyn in fact, Bushwick to be exact, that’s where my head is going to lay for a while maybe longer? No more walking out my front door naked to pee at the edge of the forest. Walking my summer path to dive in the swimming pond, morning strolls down to the river, stomps in the woods collecting mushrooms for dinner, and the nights of a billion stars. Things are going to look a little different, people lots of people, buildings, lots of concrete, around my cabin I can’t find concrete to step on, in NY it’s tough to find some dirt to stick my bare foot on. With that said there is nothing like contrast to wake up the sleeping part that forgot what life on the edge is like. The people the subway the buildings the traffic the chaos and the order, it is still nature, human nature, it’s still primal, it’s still beautiful and it’s different, way different than just me in the woods.

 I think there is something for me in NYC and even more I think I have something to bring to the city. After absorbing such a deep respect and experiencing the wisdom that nature is I feel I have something inside that can be healing in the city. I don’t know what it may be, but my art reflects it by using what nature gifts me and adding my embellishment, I believe it may resonate to the core of our soul that is connected to nature whether we live in it or not.

Still a few months before the move is complete but in a few days I will be there for a month or more setting up for the full thing to happen.

The Point?

The point of continuing the pursuit of art can sometimes be elusive. What is the next piece going to be and why? I ask this question between the acts of making art and rarely do I come up with a satisfactory answer. Then back in the studio and in the art of making art there seems to be no questions, as all seems to be answered. I can only explain this to myself as the spirit of creativity, whatever that is flowing through. It is my bliss to build to create and to let my hands speak for my heart. The language is of pain and joy of care and of longing. My muse is nature the enviroment and the human condition. I so want to heal my connection to my nature as a man; I so want to heal man’s connection to the natural enviroment. I deeply believe and in my form of prayer (my art) I ask that human kind just stop and look. Look closely at what it is we really are longing for, is it more and bigger and better and cooler or trendy or is it really recognition and love? If only for a moment could we step off the collective treadmill and take a walk in the woods or the mountains the seashore or even get down on our hands and knees for one small hour in our lives and be on the ground just to watch what happens, I bet we would go insane.

And into sanity we must if we are going to find true happiness once again.

Above is an Image of my current show at Les Yuex de Monde. I once again am creating my “man made” form extending from a “nature made” form and I am most interested in the integration of the two