Last year was my third year at Loyola teaching Sculpture I, Metal Sculpture and Welding as well as Advanced Sculpture Studio. When I started at Loyola, Sculpture was a service to the Art curriculum and the liberal arts program with no Sculpture majors. Then, I had a total of six students in upper level courses and my beginning classes are filled to capacity. As a result of this activity in the area, the department is looking to add more sections of Sculpture and move to a larger facility that would allow for a more diverse program. I have been solely responsible for maintaining the studio equipment and ordering supplies.
In Fall, 1996, I started teaching Bronze Casting at Harper College. A new building had been constructed for the Department of Art. I was hired to set up the foundry and casting curriculum because of my experience and background. Additionally, I have set up weekend workshops geared for faculty members in the Ceramic Shell foundry process and Welding utilizing Arc, Mig and Tig welding for Art applications. Moreover, I have been employed as Studio Technician, maintaining studio equipment, ordering materials and keeping the budget for the Sculpture and Ceramics areas.
I have taught at Northern Illinois University as a Teaching Assistant, a Teaching Intern and finally as a Visiting Assistant Professor after finishing Graduate School. I taught courses in 2D Design, 3-D Design, and Beginning Sculpture. The position included maintaining and building equipment in Sculpture, Ceramics, Fiber and Jewelry/Metals .
Starting in undergraduate school and continuing to the present, I have worked as a fabrication apprentice for three different metals intensive sculptors including one commission of my own design, I have built or assisted in the construction of seven large scale sculptures in Steel, Bronze, Stainless Steel and Aluminum. Four of these works are in the state of Illinois, one in Wisconsin, one in Iowa and another will be installed shortly in North Carolina. Over the years my involvement has increased to the point where my current employer, Bruce White, turns the construction of the projects over to me almost entirely. In the case of the Sculptor Gene Horvath, I completed 75% of the work on a monumental Sculpture for Southern Illinois University, after his untimely death. As a result of my working with Michael Dunbar and the Illinois Capital Development Board on this project, Mr. Dunbar has recommended me as a consultant to other artists.
I have been very busy as an exhibiting artist. My greatest personal interest is in fabricated and cast metal sculpture in the outdoor environment. This year I have had a solo show of outdoor work at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and exhibited in several major group outdoor shows in Rhode Island, Illinois, Tennessee, and Michigan. Chicago's Pierwalk '96 and '97 drew a great deal of media attention. Photographs of my work were featured in the New York Times (June 8, 1996), Chicago Artists Coalition News (June 1996) as well as Chicago television news reports. Recently, an episode of NBC's "ER" (partly filmed in Chicago and presently number 1 in the ratings) featured my work as a backdrop for a scene shot on Navy Pier. In 1996 and 1997, my work at the Convergence Sculpture show in Providence, Rhode Island, drew much attention during the International Sculpture Conference held there.