I am very spatial and engineering minded which I think is revealed in my art. And, more often, I find myself in technical rather than artistic conversations about my work, which I enjoy greatly. I have a B.A. in art from the Univ. of Montana where I studied ceramics and became a potter umt.edu/montanamuseum/student/Kohn.htm But the real drive was the mechanics, chemistry and fire that occurred in the kiln (pottery is a wonderful profession for a pyromaniac). I loved the tactile nature of clay and the transformation of wet, slimy, earthy dirt into elegant, beautiful, functional works of art. But the ceramic arts require a lot of dedicated space and specialized equipment and supplies, which hindered my desire to move around quite a bit. Eventually, I changed media and found recycled art.
Instrumental in that process was Steve Storz in Taos, NM www.storzart.com who opened my eyes to this form of art. He helped me realize that I could take my tinkering and toy making to a whole new level, making it a respectable art form. So now I take pride in turning garbage into art, although, it has to be 'good' garbage. I'm constantly zig-zagging through the alleys in search of the cool, broken stuff like DVD players, CRT monitors, toys, lumber, vacuum cleaners and the beloved dumpster from a home remodel.
I can honestly say, more than 95% of the work you see here is recycled from stuff other people threw out and was headed for the landfill. I have no shame in telling people that my art supplies cost next to nothing and what they are purchasing is my vision, time, effort and creativity. My vision is to take what other people see as useless garbage, and turn its parts into something valuable. The only part of the art piece I purchase is paint, glue, screws, nails and electronic items that need to meet a specific criteria. It is hard to take an unidentified voltage LED from a VCR and trust it will work at 12VDC, or melt solder off a TV circuit board to reuse in my copper cranes. Even specific items, which require a certain property, I first try to find in the local thrift stores and junkyards.
I actually weighed one of my pieces and its parts that I bought retail and found that it was 98.5% recycled materials, which would have ended up in the local landfill. All the plastic, sheet metal, wood, copper and glass was, at one time, serving another purpose before becoming art. Look closely at 'Rock Station II' and you will see that everything except the paint, solder and hot glue is recycled. Even the stone at the base used to be part of a granite boulder shaped by a river. Centuries later, I found it in a Target parking lot and used it in my art.
