Mostly, I'm a Neon Artist and
Neon Scenic Specialist.
But I'm also an Electronic Media Artist and Internet Specialist.
Mostly, I'm a Neon Artist and
Neon Scenic Specialist.
But I'm also an Electronic Media Artist and Internet Specialist.
I was born in Brooklyn, New York in the 1950's and grew up not far from Ebbets Field where the 'real' Dodgers played. My childhood was spent building everything from dinosaur diaramas to robots. The rest of the time I was either watching cars whiz by the window or running off to the park.
My family moved to the suburbs in the 1960's and it was there that I began to regularly paint, compose music, and write. But my strongest skills appeared to be in the sciences. I entered Columbia University in the fall of 1968 as an engineering student. My interests quickly changed to the human sciences. By the time I finished graduate school there in 1974 I had a BA and MA in Education and Psychology.
I had already begun to be a teacher while I was in school and over the next few years I moved into administration, working with children who were removed by the courts from dangerously abusive situations. With the help of some remarkable staff, we created programs that integrated the arts and other creative activities with school and therapy programs. My work eventually involved politics, budgets, public relations and it was not completely fulfilling. About that time, a stronger pull from my always ongoing love for creating, took over.
My mentor, Joe Upham, NYEGW's founding director taught me the basic to advanced technologies . Bill Gudenrath, presently technical advisor to The Studio at Corning, taught me many finer points of glasswork and lampworking. Gaspar Ingui, a classic signbender, taught me production techniques and provided warm encouragement and support. By the end of 1980 I had exhibited in a group show that included neon artists Paul Seide, Cork Marchese, Alejandro Sina, and Fred Tschida among others.
My work "Shattered Nerves" was made of broken neon tubes filled with crushed glass. Argon-mercury light crackled and snaked in this three dimensional kinetic piece which seemed to have a life of it's own.
My present shop Krypton Neon in Long Island City, NY began when I moved in to Kevin Scanlan's Luncheonette Hot Glass Studio. We worked together here for several years making hand-pulled neon tubes and other dimensional shapes from the furnace. The studio became Krypton Neon, a full time neon shop, in 1984.
Current work on Broadway includes: Miss Saigon, Grease, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Victor/Victoria, and The Life.
My work is prominent at the New York's Jekyll & Hyde Club, where I created a 5 story high animated lightning effect among other works.
I have been an active Internet enthusiast, writer, site author, and consultant for several years. I was a columnist for Internet World Magazine in its first years and I authored the chapter on Art and the Internet for Tricks of the Internet Gurus (SAMS Publishing 1994 ISBN 0-672-30599-2). My New York Art Line on gopher was one of the earliest databases focused on the arts.
I write Html, Perl Cgi, and some Unix C.
On the pc platform I author programs in Visual Basic.
Two major sites that I have created and maintain are:
Krypton Neon and
LIC Web
Here are some of my Artist-at-Large columns for Internet World Magazine: