I had to prepare myself to be an artist because it’s a big job, it is sacred work. Being an artist means service - the whole world is my responsibility and art is how I steward and serve the earth. I am not sure if other artists share this idea, but is essential to my story.

I was a creative kid. I enjoyed learning but hated school - for me the two seemed to be mutually exclusive. Two years after graduating from New Canaan High I moved to New York City, one of my two favorite places, the other being Northern Michigan where my family spent summers.

I lived in NYC until 1986, sampling courses at the New School for Social Research in video editing, computer programming, electronic painting and figure drawing while hatching various crazy schemes. I shared shelter with some amazing beings, and popped the confines of my skull with a variety of techniques and substances. I began to rethink what my life was about.

After a little too much of this sort of thing, I decided to squat my family’s vacation cottage on Crystal Lake in Michigan (1987). In nearby Traverse City, I sold computers for a few years and then struck out on my own offering Macintosh based illustration and animation services nationally. I eventually incorporated under the name Artist house, Inc. and took the title of Creative Director.

In 1991 a crowd of misfits and long hairs from Europe and the US mysteriously converged on my locale and together we set up a cooperative performance space and gallery called Wonderland in Honor, Michigan. It was about this time that I realized that I was indeed an artist, and decided to accept the responsibility. My first interactive work NEW YOU premiered at Wonderland in 1993.

The Wonderland group scattered as unexpectedly as they had arrived, but my world had been changed forever. In 1994 I co-directed Box, a performance piece at the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City in collaboration with Company Dance Traverse. Box spoofed gender propaganda from the consumer culture and combined dance, live video and computer animation. About 500 attended, and on the second performance a fellow in the audience started shouting obscenities at me. My co-director, Paula Vinzi was ecstatic!

In 1995 I decided to reorganize everything to support my creative work and to clarify what my responsibility was, what was worth doing. I wanted to look into the human condition and find out what was really going on ‘out there’.

The first action was to transform Artist house, Inc. from a company I served as Creative Director to a resource for the realizing my vision, enabling me to determine my own path for research and learning. I accomplished this by shifting focus from services to development of proprietary products, specifically creative software.

The second action was to launch a global reconnaissance, so in early 1996 I took a three month painting sabbatical to Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands. The resulting series of watercolors entitled My First Earth, was shown repeatedly in the region and received great press. It also helped me to clarify what needed doing. I had been pondering a manifesto for some years, and after I returned things began to coalesce.

“The life support systems of this planet are being compromised. This is a kind of insidious suicide in which all humans participate to the degree that they adopt consumer (American, mostly) culture. One way to short circuit basic survival mechanisms is to disconnect people from the results of their actions, to give them lousy feedback. The artist’s objective then is to bring folks back to their senses. Reawakening the senses and perception connects a person with the present moment, whatever that is. A little encouragement helps sustain the new awareness past the initial shock of awakening.”

I began planning projects dealing with perception and sensory activation. I had developed Storypaint in 1995 as an investigation of computer human interaction. It was to become not only the first product of the transformed Artist house, Inc., but a model for several other grant funded investigations.

Storypaint is a touch screen installation that combines words and images in a unique way. In 1995, I exhibited Storypaint at the Traverse Area Arts Council Gallery, and then at Arts Below Zero at the Dennos Museum Center. Storypaint was on loan to the DMC until 1998, when it was permanently acquired. With support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and regional foundations, Storypaint is becoming a venue for the exhibition of youth art and writing on the web (1999-2001). This means that creative and perceptive kids can be consistently recognized for their achievements.

With Storypaint as an entrée, I collaborated with the Dennos Museum Center to develop Perception (1996) and Arctic Spirit (1997). Both of these projects were made possible in part with funds from the Michigan Technology Council and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. Perception was inspired by extensive research into issues of cognitive psychology and neurophysiology. Perception is a suite of interactive games and experiments that allow museum visitors to tinker with their reality. Originally I intended to shift awareness with the unexpected, but I now have a much broader vision for Perception. The next version will live on the web for maximum accessibility and incorporate techniques both ancient and contemporary for expanding consciousness and enhancing creative power.

At the close of the 20th century, artist Charly Hanson and I presented the The Last Gesture at Corners Gallery in Arcadia, Michigan. This show of undraped human bodies was a moment between epochs, and was celebrated on November 21 with a gala multidisciplinary performance / reception, attended by over 400, which was probably some kind of record for a winter event in Benzie County.

In 2000, along with my investigations of interaction and ongoing figure studies, I am executing large canvases in acrylic, installing timber columns in the out of doors and expanding my vocal and instrumental competence for improvisational live performance. These efforts follow an elusive intuition about fusing all modes of expression, what I call Everythingism.

This is my full biography. There is also an abridged biography available, along with my full resume and an abridged resume.