For a long time I spent
my time in the studio making paintings, sculpting
wood with a chain saw and print making. I used those
practices to find a way of expressing my frustrations
with the world and its contradictions. I was also
trying to create a style that was uniquely mine.
I wanted a style that could distinguish me from
other artists, and make me famous, rich and free
to leave that factory where I worked for ten years.
After getting that style, I really started to pursue
gallery representation. Several galleries were interested
and I eventually was selling my work around Atlanta
and Charlotte. I was receiving favorable reviews
and actually one museum bought one of my pieces
for its collection. This process of marketing was
exciting, but after awhile it lacked any lasting
quality. Galleries would come and go and before
I knew it I was back to looking for representation.
Finally, I realized that I wasn’t commutating
social issues through painting or sculpting. I wasn’t
making any change for my community because of the
limitation of my audience. I wondered why so many
fellow workers at the factory didn’t know
what the heck I was doing in my art. All gallery
openings for the most part catered to a certain
group, certain class. I could see the evolution
of my work but, where was the evolution of audience?
I started to question why some people (fellow factory
worker) were not aware of the art world and its
glamour. I shifted the direction of my thinking
about the role of audience and started collaborating
with school children, fellow factory workers and
the public in general. I worked in a factory for
ten years and for the most part never really shared
my studio practice until close to the end of working
there. I eventually started showing my work to those
at the factory who operated fork trucks and worked
on assembly lines. I started inviting my fellow
workers to openings. Collaborating with my friends
at the factory allowed fresh ideas, new possibilities
to come into the work. It allowed a new audience
to witness my work, through their involvement.
"Every human being
is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate
in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking
and structures that shape and condition our lives" Joseph Beuys
