“Ni tir gan teanga”
No land without a language
...Gaelic saying

“The past is a foreign country…with a language all of its own”
…adapted from L. P. Hartley

Profile

I live my life, and work
Like I do crossword puzzles,
In pen.

So I mean to slap your face,
I mean to kiss you on the lips.
I mean to tell the truth.

-JR-

Art work

In the true spirit of experimentation and exploration, I have not limited myself to only one manner of visual expression, and have produced both two and three dimensional pieces. Since 2004, I have focused on sculptural work though, that combines wood, stone, and metal with glass, plastic, textiles, cement, and organic materials. In all my work, by using texture and line to indicate form and movement, I intend to provoke a galvanic response in the viewer on concurrent physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual levels. With emotion as the “hook”, I also attempt to induce a deeper connection to the work by inviting the viewer to touch its surface, and to consider their personal response to it in relation to preconceived expectations about portrayed subject matter, technique, or medium.

Archaeology

One might think that art and archaeology are very incongruent disciplines, but I would argue that both occupations delve into, and explore the deeper meaning and form lying beneath the superficially obvious. Thus my secondary vocation/avocation, archaeology, stems from a strong connection to “The Past," particularly as it relates to my Irish heritage, and especially from a lifetime of looking for the real story, and asking questions about the who, how, and why of things.