About Robert
For the next 20 years after graduation, I pursued a career as a city planner working in St. Louis and San Francisco. As a planner in the public sector in both Cities, I played a key role in formulating long-term strategies for economic, social and physical development policies. But I was also continually pulled by the desire to create things with my brain and hands and I expressed those desires through periodic sculpting or painting binges or building things -- in St. Louis it was renovating apartment buildings and in San Francisco it was designing and building my own home. While living in San Francisco and achieving my dreams of having a successful career as a planner and living in a house on the top of a hill came true, my life began to change as my network of friends became sick and died of the plague of HIV that swept across the City during the 1980’s. In early 1988, I learned that I too was positive and the shock of it lead to a search for what to do with the remainder of my life. The answer came quickly -- make art -- and I immediately started experimenting with layering techniques drawn from my use of topographic modeling as a planner. In 1990, I moved to the deserts of southern CA near Palm Springs seeking a scaled-down lifestyle, warmer climate and larger workspace. I found a great 1961 midcentury modern house in Cathedral City's Cove area and converted the garage into my studio. I continued using my techniques of laminating forms, but experimented with different material and finishes. I explored the visual and structural possibilities of lamination through a series of abstract colored and natural wood forms. I launched a series of life-size MaleNudeWorks that are an expression of the erotic beauty of the male form including my signature work "Rob" pictured above. I experimented with form and structure for functional art works such as chairs and tables and also worked with a series of clients on commissioned projects including sculptural installations, waterworks, garden structures and gates.
I have been an artist all of my life, creating and leaving a legacy of my work in many locations throughout the country. Through formal training and self-initiated searching, I experimented with a wide variety of media including wood, metal, stone, pastel/acrylic/oil painting and others. My work is strongly influenced by my architectural education at Washington University in St Louis where I received a Master of Architecture degree in 1967.
While living in the desert, I've also devoted considerable time to public service, In 1997 I was asked to join Cathedral City's first Public Arts Commission and had the opportunity to help write the City's first public arts plan. In 1999 I was one of the founding Board members of the Coachella Valley Arts Alliance. In 2001 I began service on the Cathedral City Planning Commission and in 2005 I was on the Cove Steering Committee, a neighborhood group formed to help plan and implement an assessment district to construct sewers and streets in Cathedral City's Cove area. After moving to Sky Valley in 2006, I joined the board of County Service Area 104 which advises the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on spending priorities for parcel assessment road funds and in 2007 I joined the Sky Valley Community Council. In 2005, I bought a 5-acre parcel of land in Sky Valley CA with a 1957 homestead house fixer which I envisioned someday becoming my home with a larger studio space that would allow me to explore even more and bigger directions of sculptural form and technique. I felt the sloping 5-acre property in Sky Valley, located over hot mineral springs aquifers, would be a perfect place for the display of large sculptural works and because it was such an inspirational place, I thought it might even someday become a retreat where a few artists could come and develop their talents. I've completed the renovation of the original house, built a studio, tool room and storage building and started making art again. I recently finished my latest work in wood called Freeform 1 and completed my first work in metal as the first large-scale sculpture on the grounds. I'm also working with others to see if it's possible to establish a non profit corporation or foundation that would help support artists who are survivors of life-altering events such as HIV, cancer or war trauma. 
