2025 – Depth 11", Width 11", Height 19"
The topside railroad spike raises its head like a periscope to sight the way for us other passengers in the tiny bucket of life.
2025 – Depth 17", Width 30", Height 38"
The artist's theme of respect for old age with character and use of what he calls antique iron with character as his medium hereby takes a peek into a child's playground.
2025 – Depth 12", Width 13", Height 15"
The intriguing beauty of human designs--enhanced by nature's aging process.
2023 – Depth 15", Width 19", Height 23"
This title, though perfectly descriptive of this piece, more generally applies to the artist’s whole sculptural output.
2023 – Depth 5", Width 10", Height 24"
Whatever we may think of angles and curves, they certainly contribute much to life.
2023 – Depth 10", Width 14", Height 17"
Saddened by how Hamas and the Palestinian people had traded their food-producing hoes for the woes of war, the artist made “Hoe in Peace: Mace in Woe.”
Starving men don’t make war. They hoe in peace. It’s after the crops are in and their barns are full that they wield their maces in war. The lower part of this sculpture is an old-time farmer’s hoe. The upper piece makes a perfect mace for war.
2020 – Depth 13", Width 13", Height 29"
Here is a tribute to the sea and those who frequent it.
This sculpture was one of 60 selected out of 400 entries that were juried into the Front Porch Gallery Annual Exhibition by a juror from Washington state. It was also one of 91 selected out of 230 entries that were juried into the Artist's Choice Exhibit by the chair of the California Art Club. (see show info above)
My Medium: It is what I call “Antique Iron with Character and Connectivity.” A good example is a farm implement which is called a “buzzard wing sweep.” It was shiny and new when it sat on the shelf of a farm implement supplier. It was a type of cultivator blade made to eliminate weeds between rows of crops. Its initial design had what I call beauty, a start on character, and connectivity provided by the three holes.
But, like humans, it grew in character as it aged and began to show wear from decades of being dragged by a plow through difficult textures of soil. Then it was bent by banging into rocks, worn down by decades of abrasion, built up again by the farmer adding beads of welding to add sharpness and a point to it again
This is the kind of masculine character I look for in selecting antique iron with which to build my sculptures. This type of antique iron portrays manly beauty, the nobility of age, stalwart character, and strength. Seeing pieces of what I now call my artistic medium, “Antique Iron with Character and Connectivity,” is what sparked the artistic bug in a man who had, ‘til then, been a monk for 20 years, a college math teacher and tennis coach for 40, and always thought of art as pretty and shiny things that make ladies ooh-and-ahh in parlor rooms and salons.
The pieces that wrenched art from my soul and which I now choose to use as the focal pieces and source of inspiration for my sculptures, “speak to me” as no other medium or art ever has.
I now realize that art is none other than our souls responding to the beauty in every aspect of God’s creation--whatever aspect rouses us most and which we choose to give our own voices to—everything from anger to ecstasy. But it seems to me that most people respond best to up-lifting expressions like goodness, truth, beauty, love, nobility, generosity, etc.
This Sculpture: “If You’d Seen as Much Sea as I’ve Seen, You’d Be A-Tippling too,” is perhaps the most perfect exemplification of that process in the 45 years of following my muse. The topmost piece of the four which constitute this sculpture, has made me not only a sculptor, but also a poet. It is a 22-inch bolt which once held together planks of a pier. It poignantly personifies and elicits the looks, gnarled character, and love of grog, of a lifelong seaman.
Hence the top piece of this sculpture has spoken to me and is now speaking to you, our visitors. Listen to it; feel its presence (without touching it). It reveals many decades of life and experience--perhaps more than a century.
It has lived in the sea, but the sea has taken its toll. By noting the remnants of cable wire below the skirt of the top knob, we can recognize that the central core of this bolt once had cable wires surrounding it.
The thought of the sea reminds us of the centuries of man’s love of and struggle to survive, upon the sea.
In this case the sea has left a deep layer of concretion, about an inch thick, especially on the two ends of the bolt. Why is there not sea mineral accumulation on the central part of the bolt? Because the bolt was holding together thick planks of wood which have all rotted away except enough wood which floated it to shore relatively-recently in the bolt’s lifetime.
Since the wood is now gone, there has been enough time for the sea and sand to chew away almost all of the cable and a considerable amount of the bolt's diameter.
If the bolt is speaking, to whom is it speaking? Most immediately it speaks to us as a representative of the man, the seafarer who constructed it and/or took it to sea. Thus this bolt is a figure of the seafarer, speaking to us as a representative of the gnarled and chewed-up bolt.
And what does the bolt, encased in concretion and chewed by the sea, say to us and to the seafaring man it dually represents? It is saying, as we note that it is standing rather precariously askew, “If you’d seen as much sea as I've seen, you’d be a-tippling too.”
Thus speaketh the encrusted and tipsy bolt before it falleth over.
2019 – Depth 9", Width 16", Height 17"
Since the circle has long been interpreted as a symbol of eternity and of infinity, this piece expresses the mystery of Christmas as "Infinity Comes to Earth." It uses three circles to represent the three stages of God the Father's plan to reveal his Triune Nature to mankind at a certain time in what we call Salvation History. The highest circle is God the Father; the tiny circle is the start of God the Son as a single-cell human zygote, resulting from God the Holy Spirit fabricating a male gamete to unite with Mary’s egg. The third circle is the adult Jesus, the embodied (incarnation) of God the Son, bringing The Triune God’s messages to earth.
As "Artist Eyes the World," this sculpture is an implement like a magnifying glass with which we can examine the fact that everything gets old, things as well as people, but not all improve their character. This magnifier enables us to search closely for character in the aged.
2020 – Depth 11", Width 17", Height 27"
This piece stands on duty at the front door of the artist's home.
2017 – Depth 20", Width 20", Height 25"
In any group of two or more people, one person's opinion or suggestion prevails in choice of action. May that person be strong, sturdy, and wise.
2015 – Depth 17", Width 17", Height 25"
Notice how such a simple farm implement as a disc to undercut the roots of weeds between rows of vegetables, has an intricate assemblage which includes a scraper to clear away collected mud and which must be lubricated with grease via a nipple on the reverse side. Nothing comes easy in the effort to produce food!
1995 – Depth 14", Width 14", Height 26"
1993 – Depth 15", Width 15", Height 31"
...And speaks for itself.
1980 – Depth 25", Width 30", Height 58"
Here lie the remains of San Diego’s Balboa Stadium, built in Balboa Park (behind San Diego High School) for the 1915 Panama-California International Exhibition and patterned after the Roman coliseum. It hosted many world-famous events and personalities including San Diego Chargers football games, a concert by the musical group "Chicago," and speakers like Charles Lindbergh. Deemed seismically inferior, it was finally destroyed in 1980 after two weeks of pounding by a huge steel ball, swung using a large crane. This monument incorporates the various types of re-bar used in 1914, including one with a square cross section and another that is totally non-ribbed, but the piece de resistance is the 1¼ inch diameter bar. For the base, the sculptor mixed concrete and inserted marble with lettering donated by a local mortuary owner who thought the stadium merited a memorial to its event-filled life.
1977 and 2019 – Depth 17", Width 21", Height 31"
This piece has been displayed several months in "The Classic Attic" gallery at the YWCA in downtown San Diego. A favorite saying of the sculptor is a modification of a quote in a tiny book in this same gallery/antique shop: "Youth and beauty are gifts of nature, but old age is a work of art." Certainly that saying applies to these works of antique iron as well as to the life of each of us. This sculpture was selected by a jury of two California State University Northridge Art instructors and thus was accepted into the San Diego Art Institute's 25th Annual Exhibition in Balboa Park, Nov. 1978. The crosspiece has since broken and the sculpture has been appropriately redesigned, still expressing the close inter-relationship of the ancient concept of the wheel and the more recent railroad. The original sculpture is shown in the third photo below.
2015 – Depth 8", Width 40", Height 34"
In the summer of 1978, the sculptor spotted something sticking out of the dirt in a newly-plowed field across the street from the Tower of London. He tramped about 20 feet to pull it out and stuff it under his jacket. Thus he carried it through his tour of the Tower, imagining what history this pulley had witnessed in the days of executions by hanging and beheading. Back in San Diego, he incorporated it into this conglomerate of other pieces, many from the San Diego rail yard which is situated a few blocks south of San Diego City College where he taught math many years. This piece was displayed for the first time in 2016 at that same college’s City Gallery as part of a month-long exhibit for 20 of his sculptures.
1975 – Depth 10", Width 20", Height 20"
This sculpture appeared in the national magazine RELICS in December 1977. It was juried into the San Diego Art Institute's Annual Exhibition in Balboa Park, Nov. 1980. This piece most completely expresses the philosophy of respect for old age which is why the sculptor focuses on use of antique iron. The "pieces with character" which he selects for use are similar to old people, cast off or ignored by society. In this case he has put several "characters" to work in a new "family" with new life as a representation of both the bond and relationship between father and son or, more generally, any parent and child: The father is bent over and gnarled with age while the son, having imbibed all of the nurture, guidance, and wisdom of his elder, struggles to climb the ladder of life, boosted upon his father's back while still intrinsically attached.
1975 – Depth 32", Width 32", Height 52"
This piece was entered into the Oklahoma Annual Art Exhibition at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa in 1976. Judges of the 1600 entries were a New York City gallery owner, a NYC photographer, and the Curator of the Boston University art galleries. "Justice?" was one of only 23 entries chosen for exhibit. "Justice?" also appeared in a full-page photo with artist Hilary Paul McGuire in SOUTHWEST ART magazine, March 1977. A full-page article entitled "Philosophical Sculpture" appeared on the opposite page. "Justice?" represents the alternatives of justice as being a trap, chains, or a hook. Then if one gets out of those, a blacksmith tongs await below. Rather negative, but the sculptor, who has written three books on Chicano gangs in southern California, has worked with lots of kids who seemed to have only such alternatives in their lives.
1990 – Depth 15", Width 29", Height 22"
People usually think of a plow digging into the soil to prepare for planting of seed, but rotated 180 degrees, it shows its beautifully complicated under-structure and readily suggests upward flight and a look to the future. This plow, worn down from use, had its life extended by a farmer building up its edge with welding. Finally it was cast aside as useless, like so many things and people are today. This sculpture gives that plow new life and purpose by mounting the up-sweeping, forward-looking plow onto a "Never Creep" railroad anchor plate. In like manner, whatever is past, plows the way to the future.
This piece also encapsulates the philosophy which prompted its creation. The patination and "character" of certain pieces of antique iron prompted the sculptor to show them to the world. He takes items that are like wise and weather-beaten grandparents and incorporates them into young, vibrant, new families.
1978 – Depth 8", Width 18", Height 10"
This item was constructed 22 years before the millennium, using pieces from the San Diego rail yard. In those days many feared that by 2000 the world would have suffered a devastating nuclear war and these would be the last two “humans” left on earth. Very disfigured and distorted by radiation, these two face each other and say, “Shall we make love or war?” It was displayed one month at San Diego's Miramar College in fall 2002.
2016 – Depth 8", Width 14", Height 24"
This slim piece of farm equipment is very simple, but serves its purpose with dignity, thus reminding us that "Even a Sliver of Character Endures Forever."
2016 – Depth 8", Width 14", Height 34"
...And is obvious.
2018 – Depth 7", Width 7", Height 22"
It is a plus when pieces of antique iron and steel have words or symbols embossed or stamped into them. Often, as in this case, the intent of the manufacturer is scarcely recognizable in later decades or even centuries. Thus one wonders who today would give a bottle-capping machine the name of "Gear Top?" Nonetheless, this evocative piece reminds us that, for inanimate things as well as in human interaction, what matters most is personal character.
2016 – Depth 24", Width 30", Height 50"
Four friends who have traveled widely and experienced diverse vocations, meet to share their wisdom in Egypt.
2016 – Depth 15", Width 40", Height 50"
(Don't read this until you've studied the pictures below.)
This sculpture employs 13 pieces of antique iron and steel, each of which was chosen as beautifully expressive in its own right. The sculptor's intention was to show the simple beauty of their collaboration. One perceptive viewer saw what the German philosophers call a "gestalt." She said, "I see the word STOP in there...like an admonition that progress and technology are negatively affecting our society. "
1996– Depth 8", Width 45", Height 55"
2016 – Depth 65", Width 65", Height 55"
Four very different, seriously vivacious, families meet for a rural, highly life-affirming vacation.
2016 – Depth 25", Width 25", Height 55"
1978 – Depth 24", Width 60", Height 25"
The ring and the pondus (Latin word for "weight") are two pendulums which work together according to mathematical equations inherent in nature. This sculpture uses the ancient character and beauty of antique iron to illustrate the principle of compound pendulum motion. This sculpture appeared in an article about the sculptor and math teacher in San Diego City College's newspaper, CITY TIMES. It was also displayed for several months in the sculpture garden of the San Diego Design Center before Qualcomm Corporation bought the building for its original headquarters.
1976 – Depth 20", Width 55", Height 50"
2007 – Depth 20", Width 45", Height 35"
The sculptor strongly encourages you to contact him if you recognize the origin of any particular part of any of the above sculptures and admits he does not know the original purpose of some of the pieces he is using. If you have a picture or a life story to authenticate your claim to knowledge of some part, please share it via the contact page. If you are inspired to create some sculptures of your own, he would also love to hear from you and provide you with tips and encouragement.