Age: 52 Occupation? I’m a carpenter by trade but I have done a number of things from plumbing, commercial painting, iron work, and concrete. Hobbies/Interests. I like collecting things. I have a couple of old Harleys and an antique car. I do a little leather work. I like to grow my own food and can my own peppers. How long have you been working as an artist? I’ve been making things since I was a little boy - jewelry, painting, tie die, and making chopper bicycles. I always took art in school. I was going to play football and I tried it and decided I didn’t like getting all beat up . Art class smelled a lot better than the gym . And I would rather be in art class creating things and sitting at table with most of the cheerleading squad. I pretty much decided it was way cooler being an artist. I did not consider my self an artist until other artists that I knew started taking interest in the things I was making . And they started calling me an artist. What types of art do you do? Sculpting (bottle trees) painting. I paint on canvas, animal skulls, old tin and metal and furniture. How long have you been making bottle trees and what first Inspired you to make them? I think I’ve been making them about 7 years. There was an old 4x4 fence post in the backyard and one day I started to put old large beer bottles on it and one Christmas our friend Cathy was here and saw this post with bottles on it and asked me if I would make her one . That was what got me started and then some friends of hers saw hers and wanted one . Now I can’t stop and it’s like the painting - I have to do it. It’s just something I have to do. It brings me peace but only after much frustration. I look at something I’m doing and I don’t like it and then it makes me kind of mad and I just keep at it until I like it. And then I’m happy. How long have you lived in a certified wildlife habitat? I guess it was during the drought and we started feeding the deer. They were eating out of our bird feeders and drinking from the birdbaths. To get your place certified all you have to have is food, water, cover and a place to raise young. I have seen a baby deer born here and just yesterday I was watering a hanging basket of flowers and little baby birds started coming out of the plant. We have flowering native plants and trees that attract butterflies and humming birds, a lot of butterflies! How does living in a wildlife habitat inspire your artwork? Just the peace and quiet and the beauty of nature is inspiring . The best artist in the universe is the creator of us all - He came up with all of it first. I’ve seen Him do some really cool stuff. Is there anything else you’d like to mention? The first time I ever saw bottle trees was up near my aunt’s farm near Crockett. I saw bottles hanging from trees on cotton farms up there. What I have found out about them is that the Egyptians started it and the African slaves brought it here. Evil spirits go in to the bottles at night and are trapped and in the morning the sun comes out and kills them. I believe it really works. The light that comes through the colored glass is beautiful to look at also. So I don’t just make them for art sake, I make them to rid the world of evil.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:34:36 +0000
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