My paintings are a palimpsestic narrative that I achieve with the application of thin paint over the top of previous drawings on sheetrock, cut from the walls of my studio. This prompts an interaction between my old and new thoughts, creating a layered study of connections between the past and the present. The paintings are visual journal entries; not only recording a few of the people and spaces that exist within the Fisch Haus, but the passage of time within each scene as well. Therefore, no explanation of my artwork would be complete without referring to the relationship between my built environment and artistic explorations.

Fisch Haus is a multi-disciplinary art facility, currently housing five full-time artists. This artist cooperative was founded fourteen years ago, and for the last eleven has operated out of a three story warehouse that contains living, studio and gallery space. I have spent these years focusing wholly on my artwork and the evolution of the cooperative. Much of my work over the last eleven years has been in direct response to my experiences in the development of Fisch Haus; in its design, construction and influence within the art community in Wichita. In addition to my individual endeavors, the building today hosts music festivals, theater performances, resident and guest artist exhibitions, lecture series, and a wide variety of other cultural events. When the Fisch Haus collaborative began showing work in various abandoned buildings and empty spaces fourteen years ago, Wichita was decidedly not a sympathetic audience for these kind of activities. However, through persistence, the city now embraces this thriving and vibrant forum of artists, musicians and performers. I firmly believe that Fisch Haus is making a rather unusual but significant contribution to contemporary American art, and I look forward to continuing my own unconventional pursuit of artistic fulfillment through my documentation of new experiences and spaces within this dynamic.

Included in my latest body of work, are paintings I produced while living in Montreal, QC, over the last few summers. With the intent to create places where I could both work and live (in essence, a Fisch Haus annex), I built, from found objects, a plausible studio in similar empty warehouse settings every year. I documented these spaces, painting on pieced together sheetrock and plywood that I found in the streets—a process analogous to the construction methods that I typically employ.

Since the Fisch Haus is run on less than a shoe-string budget, I have been compelled to seek creative solutions to otherwise straightforward artistic and building projects. The majority of my materials, as stated above, are recycled, and I am always excited to discover a new or more effective means of expressing my ideas. This method of problem solving, directed by a combination of design and necessity, also resolves itself in gallery presentations that are not only unique, but provocative as well. The installation for my last exhibition, where everything from the use of theatrical lighting to the hanging system were both invented and built at the Fisch Haus, exemplifies such a process. Similarly, I fabricate all my own frames, a sort of collage of reclaimed moldings and boards from old houses and our warehouse itself. Each one is distinctive, mixing various finishes to create references to light and depth; ultimately becoming an integral part of the piece.