Most of the work I do falls into a category or series. Not all of the work I do fits into the listed groups but the descriptions I have listed should give a better idea of my overall intent.

Fetish Series:
Inspired by the spiritual based sculptures and carvings from multiple cultures, this series utilizes stylized animal and human forms as a form of self expression. The goal of this series is to more closley understand the spiritual relation to nature and the thought process of ancient artist; to create a contemporary piece that has roots based in this ancient art.

Symbols / Icon Series:
Symbolism is defined as “the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities”. An Icon is defined as “an object or image venerated and used as an aid to devotion”.

This series is similar to the fetish series but concentrates on combining simple shapes, symbols and forms usually from my own imagination but at times derived from existing cultural symbols or icons.

Serenity Series
A subset of the Symbols and Icon series, the intent of this series is to create a body of work that creates a response or state of calm, peacefulness and relaxation for the viewer without a necessary connection to cultural or religious images.

Transition Series:
The definition of transition is “the process of change from one state or condition to another”.

The individual pieces in this series usually contain multiple pieces on a single board or multiple pieces to be viewed together. The work illustrates the transition from diverse states of understanding, belief or realities.

Petroglyphs:
Petroglyphs are images incised in rock, usually by prehistoric dating back to the Neolithic times. They were an important form of pre-writing symbols, used in communication.

Pictographs:
A pictograph is created by painting on a rock using organic material such as animal blood, plant materials and other pigment materials. The pictograph is usually in caves or under overhanging cliffs. Common colors painted into the rocks are red, yellow, white, tan and green. The oldest petroglyphs are dated to approximately 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Around 7,000 to 9,000 years ago pictographs began to appear. Petroglyphs and pictographs have been found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica with highest concentrations in parts of Africa, Scandinavia, Siberia, southwestern North America, and Australia.

Interpretation
In both pictographs and petroglyphs, the intent of the artist remains a mystery. The images may represent the cycle of birth and death; a form of religious belief or some kind of not-yet-fully understood symbolic or ritual language, or they may simply be “pretty pictures."
Researchers have noticed the resemblance of different styles of petroglyphs across different continents; while it is expected that all people would be inspired by their surroundings, it is hard to explain the common styles. This could be mere coincidence or it may mean that all people share a commonality that reaches deep into the soul. Some researchers believe that the similarity of petroglyphs from different cultures and continents is a result of the genetically inherited structure of the human brain.

Fetishes:
The term fetishism was first used by Portuguese sailors who landed off the coast of West Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries to describe the so-called primitive culture's religion as the worship of inanimate things and of animals. Today fetishism is defined as the worship of material objects supposed to have inherent power. This term often contains condescending implications such as the belief in magic and superstitions. It implies that Westerners are at one level of the scale of human progress and misunderstood cultures are at the other end.

Native America:
The Southwestern american native people have used fetishes for thousands of years. The Zuni’s called the earliest fetishes Ahlashiwe. These were stones that naturally formed into the shape of a human or animal.
The power of the fetish comes from the Zuni ancient belief that we are spiritually connected to all life on our planet and to the heavens. The belief is that everything is alive and that everything has a power. This belief implies an invisible spirit presence; which exists in humans, animals, trees, rocks etc. This sense of connection to the spiritual presence within all life permeates the native peoples interpretation of the visible world.

African:
North African and sub-Saharan African art were created and used primarily for functional puposes related to thier spitritual beliefs. Terms like fetishism and idolatry were used to describe African art. Contemporary discussion of African art has moved away from these terms and has been replaced with descriptive terms like power figure, dance staff, and fertility figure to better address the contextual functions of objects.