Since I can remember, I’ve always felt destined to create in some form or another. As a child, while briefly entertaining dreams of becoming a professional baseball player (abandoned after facing my first 50+mph pitch), I also dreamed about being a carpenter or an artist. Family lore recounts my ability to drive a 16-penny nail into a wooden stud at four years old. By age ten, I was scavenging wood from dumpsters behind furniture stores and meticulously repurposing the discarded pieces into various projects, including building a series of decks in our family’s modest backyard. I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents for allowing me, their spirited sixth child, the freedom to explore my creativity and nurture my emerging “design/build” identity.

Attending a college-preparatory high school that strongly emphasized the arts and humanities proved to be a stroke of luck. Despite briefly considering switching to a vocational carpentry program during my junior year, my art teacher encouraged me to delve deeper into art and introduced me to graphic design. Although I sometimes ponder the alternate life I might have led as a carpenter, I’ve never regretted my decision to attend design school and pursue a career as a graphic designer, a journey that has now blossomed into being a practicing artist and gallery owner.

My career as a graphic designer kept me happily engaged in the world. I feel grateful to have had a job that challenged my intellect and creativity and continually engaged me as a problem-solver. It was as much of a “regular job” as I can imagine! I have never regretted my choice.

But my desire to be an artist never faded. In fact, it only grew stronger. In my late 40s, I woke up and realized that if I didn’t get started, I’d miss my chance, and something would die inside me. The expression “If not now, when?” bounced around inside my head constantly, and despite tremendous self-doubt, I dove in, taking classes in anatomy, drawing, painting, and sculpture. A couple of years in, I did a 3-week art intensive at the International School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy, which convinced me that I was on the right track. Soon afterward, I got my first studio and never looked back.