I have always been "making things." As a kid I built models and countless forts and tree-houses out of whatever I could scrounge. I remember watching my grandfather in his basement shop. I still have the #3 Stanley smooth plane he gave me as a kid, and use it almost daily. The iron has been replaced a time or two.

In high school the theater bug bit me hard. I went to acting school, but very quickly moved into technical theater as I pursued an MFA degree at the Dallas Theater Center. I worked and taught as a scene and lighting designer in college theater departments. I loved taking ideas and metaphors from a script and making environments for actors that supported them. During the summers I would restore my home and build furniture in the scene shop. After 6 years, though, I realized that I was always trying to do more as an artist than time and resources would allow. I was replaced by two people.

I went into business with a friend who was a skilled restorationist. We restored a lovely Victorian country church, many homes and historic commercial buildings in central North Carolina, where I lived. We became well regarded for creating kitchens in many homes that functioned as a modern kitchen should, yet looked like it had always been there.

In the early '90s, my wife was accepted into the Doctoral program in Religious Studies at Princeton University, so we found ourselves in central New Jersey with our two young daughters. On the advice of a restoration architect, I began to work with a furniture conservator in Bordentown, NJ. Here I could see and work on many classic pieces from the past centuries, often from the inside out. I learned new hand skills and woodturning. My work there reinforced the principles of sound construction, knowledge of furniture style, and sound non-invasive repair. I was the one who would create the furniture reproductions when they were sought.

After 4 years, I once again began work on my own, building furniture and cabinets for interior designers and private clients. In 2003, my wife took a position as a professor at Central Michigan University. With the move to Michigan, I began exploring some new facets of woodworking. 2007 saw us moving again — to central Massachusetts when my wife took a new position in Worcester. I look to extend my woodturning, explore new ways of using veneer and applique in my work. I also want to explore new ways of marketing my work with art galleries and the internet.

My design background gives me an understanding of architectural and furniture styles and period detail. I am innovative, accurate, and love a challenge. I enjoy working in all styles, as my gallery shows. I have a personal fondness for American and English Arts-and-Crafts, but I love mixing styles when appropriate, as well as reinterpreting styles in a modern idiom.

References are available upon request.