Tower Series

“Untitled”
Cor-ten steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 85”H x 24”W x 24”D

“Untitled” is the first of five works in my Tower Series.

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Nebula

Cor-ten steel; powder-coated enamel
Dimensions: 52"H x 64"W x 24"D

The repetition and manipulation of a simple shape inspired by nebulous cloud formations in space. Nebula is the second work in the Fractal Series.

Nebula at the Bellwether 2016: Confluence outdoor sculpture biennial in Bellevue, WA

In studio after final weld up

Tangentia

Cor-ten steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 108"H x 42"W x 68"D

Private Commission

1/8 scale maquette presented to client

Full scale layout drawings depicting plan, front, back, and side elevations

Completed layout drawing

Tail piece and channel arcs just back from being rolled

Assembling the large drum element

Prepping front and back panels of the mast to draw final profiles on

Transferring lineal dimensions along the front and back mast arcs to their respective elevations on layout drawing

Transferring attenuated profiles to the flat mast panels before rolling them into their arcs

Precutting drum wraps & sleeves, and mast panels prior to rolling into shapes

Pile of parts

Assembling the small drum element

Rolling the large drum wrap

Rolling the mast panels

Rolling the small drum wrap

Rolling the large drum sleeve

Laying out the footprint on the base

Assembling the mast

Machining the base for dowels and weepholes

Laying out the base cut on the tail piece

Forming, scribing, and cutting the mast side panels

Fitting the small drum wrap and sleeve

Tack welding the mast side panels

Tack welding the small drum wrap and sleeve

Welding up the mast

Rolling the 3” riser for the base

Assembling the base and internal anchoring ring

Laying out the coping cut in the mast for the tail piece

Laying out the top cut on the tail piece prior to weld-up

Laying out the arc channels for trimming to size and connection machining

Laying out the drum elements to determine connection points to mast and arc channels

Piloting thru the arcs to machine for connection dowels

Scribing, cutting, and tack welding the large drum wrap

Reinstalling the wrapped drums for connection machining

Fully welded wrap on the large drum

Fitting and scribing the sleeve for the large drum

Sanding out welds

Reworking the base from an internal mounting ring to a top-bolted mounting in order to allow for tubing gussets to be welded underneath the base plate to reduce excessive flexing

Edge detailing on large drum

Final fit-up of components before sandblasting

Installed and ready for field welding

Field welding complete; patination started

Emergence

Mild Steel; industrial alkyd enamel
Dimensions: 68"H x 40"W x 40"L

Emergence is the sixth work in the Fractal Series and is inspired by perennial plants breaking dormancy. Shown here on display at Smith & Vallee Gallery in Edison, WA.

Maquette for monumental work
Maquette Dimensions: 8 1/2"H x 5"W x 5"L
Monumental dimensions: 17' x 10'W x 10'L

- scroll to bottom of page to begin fabrication process

All trussed up for the trip to the powder coater

On the hook and back up on the table for finish welding

All tack welded together and upright again

$Setting up to climb inside and make the tack welds on the final set of fractals$

Setting up to climb inside and make the tack welds on the final set of fractals

$Blocking the last of the fractals into place for tack welding$

Blocking the last of the fractals into place for tack welding

Sculpture 75% assembled; time to select a color

The first six interior welds...hard to get to and hot...like working in an oven

150lbs tack-welded, only 60lbs to go...

$Tack-welding fractals into "quads"$

Tack-welding fractals into "quads"

$Ready to start weld-up of "fractal" tendrils$

Ready to start weld-up of "fractal" tendrils

$Stiffening gussets installed underneath to prevent base "fractals" from spreading$

Stiffening gussets installed underneath to prevent base "fractals" from spreading

$Fitting up the base "fractals"$

Fitting up the base "fractals"

$Welding up "fractal" pairs$

Welding up "fractal" pairs

The joy of edge detailing

$Triangular "fractal" component production$

Triangular "fractal" component production

View of maquette

Applying base color to study maquette

木

Cor-ten steel; powder-coated enamel
Dimensions: 174"H x 162"W x 126"D

Private Commission

木 is a three-dimensional interpretation of the Japanese kanji symbol "ki" meaning tree or forest.

Detail of crossings - scroll to bottom of page to begin fabrication process

Front view of sculpture prior to break-down and full weld-up of seams

Detail of anchor plate

Wedge shoes tacked into place to receive bolts attaching the central upright to the cross members

Sculpture erected on mounting cradle in order to machine connections and build anchor plates

Mounting cradle fabricated to emulate footing anchor bolt layout and their respective elevations

Tack welded tubing ready for set-up and joinery machining

Corner to corner clamp-up of tubing

Adjusting the crossing position upward on mock-up (after extending all elements 2' for a more appropriate scale) in studio to improve the proportions above crossing

Two "angles" dry-fitted together to be tacked into tubing and then skip welded together; only about 1/8" deflection over 12'

Tacking every 2" to maintain flat planes and minimize any heat distortion

Fabricating my own square tubing in order to control corner radii

Mock-up in studio for joinery layout

Full scale mock-up to be used for final siting and orientation

Digital composite of maquette into installation site

Study maquette on 3:1 sloped base emulating installation site

Passion

Mild Steel; industrial alkyd enamel
Dimensions: 70"H x 48"W x 48"L
Maquette Dimensions: 17 1/2”H x 12”W x 12”L

Passion is the seventh work in the Fractal Series

$156 1/4 scale fractals detailed and welded into "pairs"$

156 1/4 scale fractals detailed and welded into "pairs"

$78 fractal "pairs" lined up for fabbing into 1/4 scale editions$

78 fractal "pairs" lined up for fabbing into 1/4 scale editions

$Machining full-scale fractals to recieve anchorage inserts$

Machining full-scale fractals to recieve anchorage inserts

If you can't take the piece to the drill press, then take the drill press to the piece

$Tack welding the fractals into "pairs"$

Tack welding the fractals into "pairs"

$Welding up the three fractal "pairs" that constitute the base of Tango$

Welding up the three fractal "pairs" that constitute the base of Tango

Fully welded base

Opening up the holes on the underside of the base for threaded inserts

Stainless steel threaded inserts set plumb to level for tack welding

Stainless steel insets welded to steel sculpture with 309 rod

Re-tapping insert threads post welding

$Setting up the first fractal "pair" to be welded to the base assembly$

Setting up the first fractal "pair" to be welded to the base assembly

$Base assembly flipped over and second fractal "pair" set for welding$

Base assembly flipped over and second fractal "pair" set for welding

$Third fractal "pair" clamped into place and ready for welding$

Third fractal "pair" clamped into place and ready for welding

$Back down on the floor with fourth fractal "pair" tack welded into place - 140lbs of steel welded, only 120lbs more to go$

Back down on the floor with fourth fractal "pair" tack welded into place - 140lbs of steel welded, only 120lbs more to go

Welding up the lower "valleys" before the piece gets too big to flip over

$Positioning the fifth fractal "pair" for welding$

Positioning the fifth fractal "pair" for welding

$Adding more fractal "pairs" and welding as I go$

Adding more fractal "pairs" and welding as I go

$All tack welded togeter except for the final two fractal "pairs"$

All tack welded togeter except for the final two fractal "pairs"

Heating up tack welds to make some final adjustments before fully welding things up

"valley" welding

...and more "valley" welding

220lbs of steel fully welded, only 40lbs more to go

$Last two fractal "pairs' in position for welding$

Last two fractal "pairs' in position for welding

Fully welded sculpture

Should've signed the base before building upward

Over to a friend's heated shop for painting

Glazing and sanding

Priming

Getting a head start on the "valley" color

First full color coat

Third full color coat

Back home at my studio with four full coats of color

Shift

Cor-ten steel; weathered patina; industrial alkyd enamel
Dimensions: 53”H x 32”W x 21”D

Price: $18,500

A geometric manipulation of an abstracted form inspired by single-celled organisms called diatoms. Shift is the second work in the Diatom Series.

Phytebral

Cor-ten steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 192"H x 42" diameter

Price: $60,000

As an artist, I am constantly looking at shapes in nature, be they plant, animal, or mineral, and their relationships to our world as inspiration for my form-giving.

Phytebral, my largest sculpture to date, brings together multiple elements and techniques that constitute my body of work thus far. In addition, Phytebral also embodies joinery techniques drawn from my extensive experience in woodworking. This piece is a chimerical marriage of plant, realized by the awn and shield shaped components, and animal, expressed through the vertebral nature of the assemblage, hence the title Phytebral is a mash-up of the Greek phyton (meaning "plant") and vertebral (meaning of or relating to a vertebra or the vertebrae; spinal).

Usually, I produce a study maquette for each sculpture I make to verify scale and proportion, but in this case, I moved directly from sketch to full-scale by producing 1:1 drawings of the piece in order to work out the joinery/assemblage details as I confirmed proportion. These drawings were then used to generate the patterns needed for the fabrication of the awn/shield shaped components.

Scroll to bottom of page to begin fabrication process

The complete assembly ready to weather over the winter

Assembling the top tier on the floor - nice to finally get off the ladder

Forth tier shimmed and clamped into place

Four tiers fitted up - only one to go

Mortise lining tacked into place and ready for weld-up

Aligning first tenon in over-sized mortise cutout

Dry fitting first tier components on sculpture base

Confirming the awn tenon fit with mortises

Roughing out mortises

Transferring awn penetration points to subsequent awn element in order to cut a trapezoidal, tapered mortise

View from top of work towards it's eventual base

Awn elements laid out on full-scale drawing

Tack-welding sides to shield element

Shield element sides formed, scribed, and cut out

Installing gussets

Assembling bottom shield element

Bottom shield element front and back ready for assembly

Bottom two awn elements with sides tacked and awaiting their tops and bottoms

Top three awn elements on full-scale pattern drawing

Tacking together the front and back panels of an awn element

Rolling panels into eliptical arcs

Initial front elevation drawing for Phytebral

Initial side elevation drawing for Phytebral

Initial back elevation drawing for Phytebral

Tribelisk

Cor-ten steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 110"H x 58" diameter

Price: $38,500

An examination of the ovoid shape used in NW Coastal Native art. In this case the ovoids are actually the negative space described between upright elements that invoke the silhouette of NW Coastal Native whaling canoes.

Tribelisk at the Allison Inn & Spa's 2nd Annual Outdoor Sculpture Invitational in Newberg, OR

Tribelisk at the Allison Inn & Spa's 2nd Annual Outdoor Sculpture Invitational in Newberg, OR - scroll to bottom of page to begin fabrication process

Less than two hours after initial application of patina solution

First application of patina solution

Back from the sandblaster, washed and ready for patina

Fitting rolled plinth skirt panels between the uprights

Completed base plinth

Base plinth rings expanded to provided a 9" height to plinth

Fitting up rolled rings for the base plinth - you can never have too many vice-grip clamps

Ovoid banding welded up and sanded out

Ovoid banding almost complete

Ovoid banding cut to scribe and tack welded into position

Hand-formed 16 gauge ovoid bands clamped into place for scribing

Back bands tacked into place with top bands cut and clamped into position for tack welding

Banding all the upright element edges

Upright elements on base plate for attachment machining

Partial weld-up of upright element

All clamped up and ready for tack welding

Assembling first upright element

Third iteration study maquette at 3" = 1-0" with modified base plinth

Scribing pattern onto steel prior to flame-cutting

Building tapered blocking needed to fabricate upright elements

Full-scale pattern template of upright profile

Second iteration study maquette at 3" = 1'-0" with ovoid cutouts more representative of form line work found in NW Coastal Native art

Working out the terminal geometry of the uprights

Evolving upright cutouts from circular to ovoid segments

Upright geometries scaled up to 3" = 1'-0"

First iteration study maquette at 1" = 1'-0"

Building study maquette

Initial thumbnail sketches

Nucleole

Mild steel; "bronze" patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 16"H x 16"W x 8"D

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Nucleole II

Mild steel; "bronze" patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 15"H x 21"W x 11"D

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Nucleole III

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish
Dimensions: 20”H x 16”W x 10”D

Private Collection

Pod

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish

Dimensions: 15.5”H x 15.5”W x 15.5”D

Private Collection

"Donut" panels rolled and fit together to form a 3-winged pod

Rolling blanks to shape covers for pod wings

Shaping a crown into the pod wing covers on the English wheel

Pod wing covers clamped into place to layout coping cuts into pod panels

Pod panels coped, and wing covers trimmed and tack welded into place

Pod after full weld-up and sanding

Tack welding the base

Sandblasted and ready for patina

Patina application

Applying varnish clear coat

Pod II

Mild steel; "bronze" patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 17"H x 20"W x 20"D

Private collection

Pod III

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 21”H x 21”W x 21”D

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Nucleole study

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 8”H x 8”W x 4”D

Private Collection

Nucleole II study

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 7”H x 10”W x 6”D

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Nucleole III study

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 10”H x 8”W x 5”D

Private Collection

Gametes

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 18”H x 16”W x 8”D

Private Collection

Thumbnail sketch

Full scale layout drawing

"Female" element plates ready to be cut

Outer circle shaped and plates tack-welded together for sanding out the rough sawn inner circle

Shaping the "male" element plates on the english wheel

Sanding out the inner circle

Popping tack-welds to seperate the plates

"Male element plates tacked to a 3/16" spacer

Weld up; low and slow

Welds sanded out

Hand finishing the edge

Rolling arcs into plates

Rolling arcs into wrap panels

Rear elevation of "female" element

Side elevation of "female" element

Front elevation of "female" element

Scribing wrap panels for cutting and dry-fitting

Wrap panels tack welded to "female" element

Filler rod "hinges" tack welded to wrap panels in the event that I have to spread the the "female" element to insert the "male" element

Upper keyhole cut

Making bird's mouth cuts to accept the "male" element

Making bird's mouth cuts in the inside wrap panels

Scribing, cutting, and dry-fitting the inside wrap panels

Prepping all to-be welded joints

Inside wrap panels tack-welded

All wrap panels fully welded and sanded out

Welding the "male" into the "female"

Detailing out the welds

Upper keyhole end caps cut and prepped for welding

"male" welds fully detailed

Mocking up Gametes on it's base for mounting dowel layout

Machining base for 5/8" mounting dowel

Cutting out lower keyhole

Shimming Gametes into position to layout hole to be drilled for mounting dowel

On the dowel pin and ready to be welded

Counter arc ready to be welded to stiffen the connection to the base

Final panel tacked into place

In the sandblaster

Patina applied

Six coats of semi-gloss varnish for the undercoat

First coat of matte varnish topcoat

Fractal Series

A new series of 1/4 scale maquettes of three of my larger scale fractal series sculptures.

Nebula
Mild steel; acrylic enamel; clear varnish
Maquette Dimensions: 13"H x 16"W x 6"D
Price: $800

Tempest - sold out
Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish
Maquette Dimensions: 14"H x 12"W x 12"D

Emergence - sold out
Mild steel; acrylic enamel; clear varnish
Maquette Dimensions: 17"H x 10"W x 10"D

Nebula Maquette (edition of 5)

Tempest Maquette (edition of 5)

Emergence Maquette (edition of 5) - sold out

Pod II study

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 8 1/2”H x 10”W x 10”D

Private Collection

Pod III study

Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish Dimensions: 11”H x 11”W x 11”D

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Split-Ring

Cor-ten and stainless steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 126"H x 33"W x 24"D

Price: $42,500

The manipulation of a simple shape resulting in
an energetic totemic work of shifting planes of
light and shadow.

Early stages of patination process

Just back from the sandblaster

Split-Ring assembly complete

Clamping up the 4th ring for welding

3 1/2 up - almost there

Attaching the top portion of 3rd ring

Attempting to protect sandblasted portions from MIG splatter - need to buy a welding blanket

Dry-fitting the 3rd ring

Nucleus Series

A new series of 8 maquettes (editions of 8) inspired by the nucleus at the atomic level, currently in production for monumental work. Available for scale-up upon request.

Mild steel; acrylic enamel; clear varnish
Maquette Dimensions: 8"H x 8"W x 8"L

Editions 1-4 of Helios, Haimos, Urania, and Argentos currently available (all others in production for 2025)
Price: $700

Helios (editions 1-4 of 8) - sold out

Production of editions 5-8 TBD

Haimos (editions 1-4 of 8) - sold out

Production of editions 5-8 TBD

Urania (editions 1-4 of 8) - sold out

Production of editions 5-8 TBD

Argentos (editions 1-4 of 8) - sold out

Production of editions 5-8 TBD

Caesius (edition of 8)

Production of editions 1-8 TBD

Ferros ("bronze" patina - edition of 8)

Production of editions 1-8 TBD

Barius

Chlorosi

Twist

Cor-ten steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 32”H x 32”W x 32”D

Price: $18,500

Twist is the first work in the Diatom Series - a geometric manipulation of an abstracted form inspired by single-celled organisms called diatoms.

Twist at the 2014 Gallery Without Walls outdoor sculpture show in Lake Oswego, OR

Nucleus 18's

Four unique 18” diameter scale-ups from my Nucleus Series

Alder plywood; acrylic enamel; clear varnish

Dimensions: 18"H x 18"W x 18"L

Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Helios

Haimos

Urania

Argentos

Stomatem

Forged and fabricated mild steel; weathered patina
Dimensions: 101"H x 32"W x 24"D

Price: $24,500

A totemic work comprised of abstracted interpretations of stomate cells found on the undersides of plant foliage. The domed elements are representative of the respiratory gas exchange that occurs during photosynthesis, and the silhouette of the totem's "spine" is the genesis for the sculpture, Tribelisk.

Stomatem at the Allison Inn & Spa's 2nd Annual Outdoor Sculpture Invitational in Newberg, OR

Diatom Series

A new series of maquettes (editions of 5) based on earlier large scale outdoor works from my Diatom Series - a geometric manipulation of an abstracted form inspired by singled-celled organisms called diatoms.

Twist II Maquette
Mild steel; acrylic enamel; clear varnish
Dimensions: 9”H x 9”W x 9”D
Available at Woodside|Braseth Gallery
Inquire for price

Twist Maquette
Mild steel; “bronze” patina; clear varnish
Dimensions: 9”H x 9”W x 9”D
Sold Out - Private Collections

Twist II (edition of 5)

Twist (edition of 5) - sold out

Tempest

Cor-ten steel; weathered patina Dimensions: 54"H x 48"W x 48"D

Private Collection

The repetition and manipulation of a simple shape, Tempest is the fifth work in the Fractal Series. Tempest is the most anthropomorphic of all the Fractal Series works, evoking a rather feisty attitude.

Final weld up in studio