Big News!

My piece "Class Act (Piggy Bank Series)" was given the "First Place Award" for Sculpture at the 2020 Minnesota State Fair! This is my first 'first place' award but I've won other awards including 2nd, 3rd and an honorable mention or two. It feels good to finally be chosen for the top slot after so many years of getting in (a prize in its own right).

I also got a First Place Award from the Minnesota Museum of American Art and the ultimate prize - a Purchase Award! So my little 'piggy' will be on display as part of the permanent collection at the Minnesota Museum of American Art! This is my second 'museum purchase' with the first being the South Dakota Art Museum.

This piece is part of my 'Piggy Bank Series" that examines the way that we(Americans?) invest our money. If so much of our money is being invested in guns (by extension - military arms, police, criminal, sport, fetish) what does it say about our culture? Are we so interested in defending our lives and protecting our 'stuff' that we are killing each other? For the record, I do not condone riots or wanton destruction but I support peoples' rights to protest.

This piece was originally to be part of an anti-gun violence exhibition that got cancelled due to Covid 19. It is a critique against the violence and the semi automatic rifles that were being used to kill children in schools (Parkland School, Columbine, Sandy Hook).

Ironically, I received notice that my piece was purchased by the MMAA the same time as news of a teenage gunman had killed two people in Wisconsin with an assault type rifle. Many people commented on social media that the piece was so timely but the truth of it is, is that this cycle keeps spinning and it was only a matter of time that the imagery and reality would collide.

I hope that we have a world with less violence in it and specifically to end this violence in the schools and our streets.