My approach to sculpture begins with concept, not material. Every piece starts as an idea I need to give physical form to, and only once that idea is clear do I decide what the work should be made of, whether that's clay, found vinyl, metal, or something else entirely. The material is never the starting point. It's the answer to a question the concept asks. This way of working also shapes how I think about sculpture in dialogue with other mediums. When installed in galleries, public spaces, or alongside illustration, animation, my sculptural work is built to converse with what surrounds it rather than stand apart from it, treating the exhibition space itself as part of the material conversation. That philosophy was shaped by decades of teaching, mentorship, and hands-on craft across mediums.

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I began teaching ceramics at Baltimore Clayworks and Morgan State University in the mid-1990s, where the discipline of clay first taught me how form, volume, and process are inseparable. That foundation deepened when I served as teaching assistant to renowned artist Winnie Owens-Hart at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, working alongside a master whose own practice bridges ceramics, identity, and cultural narrative.

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I later assisted celebrated artist Napoleon Jones-Henderson on Procession of the Ancients, a monumental enamel-on-copper mural installed at the Providence, RI Convention Center, an experience that expanded my understanding of how material, scale, and public space can carry collective memory and meaning.

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Today, my sculptural work often incorporates found and mixed media, including reclaimed vinyl records, transforming everyday objects into forms that hold new narrative weight. This approach is reflected in Guardian of Vinyl, my sculpture installed at the Fort Myers International Airport, where music, material, and form converge in a public setting.

I continued this lineage of teaching through my work at the Ocean Reef Art League, where I instructed sculpture and drawing passing along the techniques that have shaped my own practice for over thirty years.

 

Sculpture, for me, has always been a conversation between concept, material, and history, one I continue to have in the studio and the classroom alike.