I studied painting, drawing and printmaking, along with economics, at the College of Wooster in Ohio and began my sculpture studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Although I remain largely self-taught, I owe a debt of gratitude to renowned Philadelphia sculptors André Harvey and Kate Brockman for their generous advice. I have been inspired by the works of American sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, and Henry Merwin Shrady (sculptor of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington, D.C.) as well as the French Enlightenment sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. I work in the 19th century tradition, using traditional materials and techniques. Like many sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries, but unlike most sculptors working today, I prefer terra cotta or “wet” clay to oil-based clay. I like its feel and responsiveness, and believe its flexibility helps capture the spontaneity of the sculpting process in ways that are difficult to achieve with other clays.