I’ll break the ice with my brief but hopefully entertaining bildungsroman:

Right after I received my BA in English from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) I was convinced by a friend (Bryan Van Donslear, a fellow member) in the middle of my upward climb along the flower delivery career ladder to go to art school. At that time I figured I would never make it as a writer. And the ideas I had seemed to be fitting into visual imagery much better and easier that they would have fit into words. Going to art school was probably the best decision I had made in my life up to that point. What I learned there was to never be comfortable with what I make or how I make it. Comfort = Stagnation.

One thing I remember in particular while working on my BFA was that I had developed a great disdain for things like design, photography and in particular, making art on a computer (which was really just beginning – early 90s). I wore paint on my clothes like a veteran wears medals.

After my BFA, I went to the University of Chicago to receive an MFA in Sculpture. I hadn’t really touched a computer until my first job outside of grad school at a PR firm in Chicago. I think that I was originally hired to take care of the dog (a purebred cocker spaniel) who had an extensive wardrobe including sweaters, rain jackets and a fake leather bomber jacket. But one day they remembered that I had an art degree and sat me down in front of a Mac with Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark on it. Of course, by that point in life my spirit had been broken several times and working with Photoshop seemed like grabbing the hand of someone pulling me up from the edge of a cliff.

I was hooked on digital art from that second on. Everything about it seemed appealing to me – being able to make multiple versions of things, creating different layers within the same work and the idea that the work was constantly in flux. I think that’s really the pull for me with digital art; the endless possibilities for permutations and interactions within a single piece and between other works.

Now, I teach graphic design at a private college and am constantly working on ways to integrate digital and traditional approaches. To be honest, I was originally very reluctant to make any art on my iPod Touch. Actually – I didn’t even know it was possible when I first got it last September. Now, it has become an indispensable tool. What could be better than having such a powerful tool that fits in your pocket and can be taken anywhere? But the thing I keep coming back to is questioning and analysis. I never want what I make on the iPod to simply be something I made on the iPod. Lately, I’ve been printing negative transparencies of the iPod pieces and using them to make prints in a darkroom. The results have been variable. But – the bottom line is that I always want to see how I can transform a thing and how many different manifestations and voices a single idea can have.

For the most part I use Sketchbook Mobile almost exclusively. I create symmetrical portraits of individuals I have never met. I also use Vellum quite a bit. Interestingly, I find that the two apps bring out very different work from me. When I work in SBM I start thinking in very refined, worldly and even otherworldly ways. When I work in Vellum, I find myself working in a very frenetic, raw and grotesque manner. But no matter what, I seem to be always making portraits. And that’s something that has carried over from all the painting and sculpture I have made in the past.

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