Artistic Style: Sculpture
Hometown: Thibodaux, LA
How long have you lived in Oxford? Going on four years now.
Early art experience: I used to draw and paint at a young age; I wasn’t very good at it though. My true passion was building things. My day taught me how to build and fly remote controlled airplanes as a kid, which is something I still dabble in from time to time, that was what sparked my interest in art, sculpture in particular.
Favorite visual artists: I have several, some are fine artist others are custom motorcycle builders, but I have to say David Smith was the first visual fine artist I looked up to.
Art school? I received my BFA in 2011 from Nicholls State University in my home town of Thibodaux, LA and I received my MFA from right here at Ole Miss in May of 2015.
Favorite book or author: I don’t have one in particular, as long as the story can hold my interest.
Favorite quotation: “It’s not hard to fail, it’s not easy to win” This quote reminds me that you have to devote your heart and soul into something if you want to be successful in anything, it keeps me going.
Do you work out of a studio? I don’t have one of my own yet, but being a faculty/staff member of the art department I have access to the studio.
How many hours to you spend in your studio each day? I haven’t spent a lot of time lately, the job comes first, but once time frees up a little I’ll be back in there.
Most productive hours? Late night or early morning however you want to look at it.
Favorite project you’ve completed: I would have to say my outdoor sculptures; It was fun to build something that is larger in scale than I am.
Three ideas you want to explore in art: My stand by is aviation, but I would like to get back into interactive art and develop that some more, and work more with monumental scale public art.
Where can we see some of your art on display? I have one of my outdoor pieces on display in front of Meek Hall. The piece is called “Swoop.”
Do you have a “day job”? If so, where? I am the sculpture technician for the sculpture department at Ole Miss.
Favorite music/bands: I listen to rock, primarily metal. It drives my colleagues crazy.
What are some of your other hobbies? I build and fly remote controlled airplanes, videogames, I want to learn how to build motorcycles, and I have been doing some target shooting lately, basically I have too many hobbies and not enough money to live off of and fund them at the same time.
Where do you hang out in Oxford? I spend most of my time in Meek Hall for my job and trying to come up with my next body of work.
Aspirations: I would like to eventually open up my own shop and build large scale commissioned public sculptures, maybe run a metal fabrication service out of it as well. That is my ultimate goal at this time.
