TOOLS AND WORN ART
I believe people experience tools and clothes the way they experience their hands; you know they're there, you see them, but once you're using them they disappear and become an embodiment of function. Hands handle, gloves glove, hammers hammer, cups cup, lights light, and so on.
As an artist, I'm always asking what happens when an art piece is engaged as a tool. Does the function it embodies become artistic? does the user become a piece of the art, or do they take over as the artist?
STAINLESS BONFIRE DRAGON
2021-present
I sometimes challenge myself to take a sculptural form and turn it functional in as many ways as possible.
In unrelated news, my dragon headed "cookout tools" are a toasting fork, fire poker, bottle opener, and sinister dragon scepter all in one package! Being stainless its also more durable and weather resistant than other handmade fire pokers.
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ARCHITECTURAL PITCHFORK REVISITED
Winter 2022
Revisiting a favorite project of 2020, I've taken the basic shape of a pitchfork (four lines connected to a fifth) and started fusing them with different architectural aesthetics, such as a Rococo greenhouse, a gothic window, etc.
FAIRY TROWEL
May 2020
The first piece of a three part project for a family of urban homesteaders. I was asked to build a pitchfork, a crook, and a trowel in my own style. I like to blur the line between the functional and the fantastic when making tools, and this may be the closest I've come to a perfect balance; a trowel deeply imbued with the leaflike aesthetic of a bronze Celtic dagger. Almost fairy-like in execution.
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ATLANTIAN PITCHFORK
May 2020
The first piece of a three part project for a family of urban homesteaders. I was asked to build a pitchfork, a crook, and a trowel in my own style. I like to blur the line between the functional and the fantastic when making tools, and this may be the closest I've come to a perfect balance.
the guy actually uses this pitchfork by the way. in case you were wondering.
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"FAT RABBIT" ENGRAVED AXES
December 2022
I love making axes. they're simple and pleasing to the eye, while having wide flat faces and a handle that beg for chisel-work and engraving.
FORGING MJOLNIR
december 2019
In an attempt to inject an taste of myth into my own craft, I forged this 4lb rounding hammer in the traditional image of Thor's magic hammer, Mjolnir.
ANIMISTIC TOASTING FORK
October 2019
Animal heads are a common decorative motif for many blacksmiths, and i like turning decorative elements functional wherever possible. This toasting fork was my first attempt to do so, and is the modal for the stainless version or my blowpipes.
The original has a scepter-like quality that I enjoy, so I recreate them on occasion.
POCKET HOOK KEYCHAINS
Ongoing Since 2012
I've never really been satisfied by the decorative keychains a lot of artists make. Typically they spend too much time in your pocket to be seen, make your keys heavier, and snag when you try to retrieve them.
The pocket hook keychains are my solution to that problem. The keychains leaves form a hook that hangs on the lip of a purse or pocket. While hanging there the keychain peeks out as a subtle adornment, but it also keeps your keys close at hand.
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LUNG DRAGON FIRE PIPE
December 2019
What started as an experiment in twisting dissimilar materials around each other has grown into one of my favorite one of projects. The long hollow handle allows for breath to be shot down the length and be funneled through the dragons mouth. The nose and horns meanwhile made a great poker for adjusting logs.
To me, breathing life into a fire is a nearly religious experience, and its only heightened by having an object of ritual in the act.
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SHEETMETAL EXPLORATION 4:
ALUMINUM PHANTOM
April 2019
What started out as a component in my university thesis sculpture My Fathers Monster became a standalone piece when I discovered that medical grade oxygen tanks are NOT made out of aluminum. oops.
Ironically, when worn the mask is as sinister as the sculpture It would have been a part of.
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SHEETMETAL EXPLORATION 3
(FROZEN EXPRESSION)
August 2018
a project I Started while studying under Geordie Lishman, Which then became synonymous with myself as an artist. its modeled section-by-section on my own face, and launched an interest in anatomical sculpture and worn art.
BUSINESS BELT
November 2016
Bearing a personal emblem made from my initials, and a secret compartment to hold my business cards, this buckle a fun and flashy way for me to start conversations and make my practice known.