Art and design does indeed occasionally change the world. 

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Or at least we believe they do. What’s actually happening on a more profound level is that they are changing the way we see the world. While I would never admit aspiring to anything so grandiose, I would hope that my work may on occasion contribute to a shift in the way one might see the world. Because the world itself doesn’t need changing, only our perception does.  Art and design have the ability to challenge our everyday, unconscious notions of what is true and real, of what is reasonable and acceptable, of what is possible and desirable.  It can make us aware of traditions and assumptions we follow on auto-pilot.  It can lead us to examine those traditions.  And while the value of tradition is often not just sentimental but practical, turning it on its head can often be just as valuable and often times necessary. 

 

A provocative piece of art or design gives us the opportunity to momentarily leave everyday life then perhaps change the way we see it, recognizing there is so much more to it than our own carefully programmed perceptions.

   

And the process doesn’t have to be a brutal one.  There is an ongoing debate about whether contemporary art is valid if it is beautiful.  Does it lose its strength?  Is it just then decorative art? This is a conversation I don’t embrace. While, of course, I don’t value mass produced fluff,  I don’t shy away from aesthetics in my own work nor am I governed by them (or so I would like to think). I don’t avoid beauty. Expanding the definition of beauty is far more interesting to me.  There is certainly no reason something can’t be disturbing and beautiful, for example, or irritatingly simplistic and visually alluring. Nor do I embrace the notion that contemporary art can is only valid if it has purely cerebral appeal. I see no lesser value in being emotionally moved by a thing of great beauty (or ugliness) than being intellectually stirred by a thing of perplexing logic.  And a combination of the two is indeed an achievement.

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My interior and furniture design experience didn't stem from educational from traditional schools.I learned working with New York designers such as Albert Hadley Jefreey Bilhuber, Tom Sheerer, and Brian Murphy. I use a "form follows function" approach to my interior and furniture design work. I do more than choose cool colors and select decorations. I understand the function of the room and experience needed as I co-create with my clients.