Please consider me in your search for a Studio Technician in Art and Design.
I have competencies in the four identified areas and will provide samples on the webpage I have created in support of this application and follow that with a summary of my relevant work and art teaching experience.
2D practices: painting, drawing
I have completed numerous senior level courses in painting and continue to be active as a painter. I’m also adept in pencil and color pencil work. Samples of my work appear in the galleries provided.
3D practices: wood, clay, textiles, sculpture, installation, 3D printers
I tend to find materials to meet my artistic vision. In a sense, my materials are my message.
Spirit of Prince George, 2015
My interest in wood began in my early teens and continues to this day.
My recent years in Prince George saw me complete a number of commissions, including a large external installation comprised of panels carved with a router, Spirit of Prince George, 2015, for Timberspan Wood Products.
TEACH ONLY LOVE
TEACH ONLY LOVE was hand-carved using a laminate trimmer, an oscillating saw, hand files and sandpaper. Once carved, an LED light strip and were hidden behind to illuminate the fabric backdrop.
BelieveBeLove
A block of wood is hollowed out with LED lights added around the perimeter. The word “Believe” is modified and shaped and placed in the middle with a roof over it. Painted with glitter it stands on its own and makes a wonderful prop for a short video featuring one of my songs, The Lord and I disagree.
Other Wooden work
Death from A to Z by Adam Lanza, Dec. 14, 2012
While researching the NRA website in preparation for a piece on the shooting deaths at Sandy Hook School in 2012, I discovered the NRA sold baby bibs. It wasn’t long after I envisioned and fashioned, with help from a master in the media, a quilt with an NRA bib for each of the 26 killed at the school, embroidered with their name, birthdate and a letter of the alphabet for each person.
LifeStar
My LifeStar is another recent piece reshaping existing materials to make something different and unique. Dollar store nightlights are fit and wired together in a sphere taken from a revolving “disco” light.
Clay
I taught pottery, while teaching in Libya and Saudi Arabia. I enjoy this material, especially when I can get my hands on it in an environment where I can work it, fire it and glaze it.
Model: Holocaust Memorial
As Team Leader for an RFQ to build a Holocaust Memorial in Ottawa, I constructed this model of my proposed design.
Lens-based and/or time-based practices: photo, video, sound, animation
Photography
I am an avid photographer. Some samples follow.
Video and Sound
This music video, Keep on Tryin’, is set to my music, vocals and lyrics about the trials and tribulations of trying to be an artist in the “real’ world, while making sure you also have some Kraft Dinner for supper. It also shows how fast I can paint.
This is my video application for the position of Traveling Ambassador with Air Transat. I didn’t get the job.
This video was produced in Saudi Arabia and screened in the school theater as an introduction to the theatrical production of The Rocky Monster Show. The original plan was to have the motorcycle enter the theater was rejected over safety concerns.
Digital practices: Adobe software suite, web and app development, emerging technologies (AR/VR, wearables, connected devices, robotics), printing technology, pre-press
I have some proficiency in Photoshop and Illustrator. While in Prince George and before the Covid-19 pandemic, I was learning about using Illustrator software and a laser cutter to etch various materials at the Two Rivers Gallery Maker Lab.
The use of Illustrator
I rely on Illustrator. Everything shown here, from the design below to the gallery that follows, relies on an Illustrator drawing.
The use of Illustrator – Northside Automotive
This gallery and video shows my use of Illustrator to lay out lines for carving, or in this case, painting, for a design for Northside Automotive
My art history
My art practice began in high school and continues. Completing studies in Commercial Art at Harry Ainlay, I enrolled in the BFA Program at the University of Alberta, eventually graduating with a B.Ed. in Art Education in 1983.
After completing my degree, I joined The University of Calgary as a Communications Officer II. Alternating as editor of the bi-weekly Gazette, I enjoyed supplying my page design, illustration and photography skills. I also took advantage of the U of C offering free tuition to staff and studied Topics in Prairie Canada with Grant MacEwan and Art and Architecture Canada 1870 – 1960.
After five enjoyable years, I accepted a position as Journalism Instructor at the then Grant MacEwan Community College, where I taught graphic design, mass media, photojournalism, and news laboratory. I was delighted and honored to have one of my photographs added to the college’s permanent collection. On the webpage created for this application, I picture it below.
After a year of teaching, I concluded I’d rather write than correct and left for Vancouver, eventually taking the position of Western Editor for Canadian Forest Industries Magazine, where I wrote on all aspects of the business. I then joined forest equipment manufacturer T-MAR industries as marketing manager, where my visual skills were utilized in the production of brochures, advertising, videos and trade show installations.
A downturn in the industry led to ten years teaching, mostly art and mathematics, in Libya, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, the UAE and Japan. I taught art using the Irish Leaving Certificate, IGCSE and IB PYP, MYP and Diploma Programmes. These are rigorous curricula, especially the IB Diploma, and I worked to ensure my students met requirements while also encouraging them to search for and brighten their inner artistic light. One of my responsibilities was to document my final year students’ work and prepare and ship it for adjudication. I also took my students to art galleries, helped with fund raising bazaars and organized an exhibition of student work in Ulaanbaatar. A work by one of my Norwegian students is shown.
I nourished my own light, as well. Highlights of this period include the production of a teacher narrated, student illustrated video of my story of an apple’s search for meaning, The Apple of Albert’s Eye, and God is Love, a short film produced with my Emirati students in Al Ain.
Returning to Canada in 2012, I successfully completed the first year of the Hearing Aid Practitioner Program at MacEwan, making me likely the only person on the planet who has worked at Grant MacEwan, studied with Grant MacEwan and studied at Grant MacEwan.
I also launched my WordPress website, blog and twitter account to display my creative abilities in writing, photography, art, music and video production and to promote my belief in our connectedness with each other and creation. My Happy Face Series and Teach Only Love are two examples which promote my belief in an overarching Love without opposite. In addition to the already mentioned computer programs, I am proficient in MS Office, Word Press and Movie Studio.
I believe my personal commitment to making art suits me well to helping students meet their artistic goals. It seems I’m always creating and I enjoy encouraging those that want to do the same.
Let me conclude by suggesting we meet to discuss the contribution I could make to the Department of Art and Design in filling this role, and to leave you with a final video, this one of me singing about giving the world a Brand New Song. It features many of my works of art.