Welcome to the 2010 Baker Artist Awards.

About this Project

2009, marble, 15 x 8 x 8 in.

About this Project

2009, marble, 13 x 8 x 8 in.

About this Project

209, marble, 14 x 8 x 8 in.

About this Project

2008, marble, 24 x 24 x 24 in.

This was completed at a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Continuing with the theme from my previous Un-commissioned War Memorials, the American flag is being used by a child as a blanket. As opposed to using the black carved stars as a metaphor for loss, I felt it might be more effective to remove the stars and their reference completely.

This piece was included by the Irvine Contemporary in MoveOn.org's MANIFEST HOPE:DC inaugural show. See the show site here --> http://manifesthope.com/

About this Project

2008, limestone, real tomatoes, marble, steel, concrete, 13 x 13 x 13 in. / approx. 4 ft. tall

These projects (done for Artscape 2008) were my first attempt to create Preemptive Memorials. Memorials to something that will soon be gone. They are, at the same time, praise for legislative movements to phase out the use of plastic bags and objects of reflection for the passing of the the "paper or plastic" era.

Physically, plastic bags and stone memorials share the same life cycle, only differing greatly in their duration. They both appear smooth, sparkling and shiny at first, but when left to the elements they begin to break down, loose their shine and become over looked, just part of the background to passers by.

About this Project

2008, marble, limestone, pink talc, soap stone, alabaster, ice cream containers, spoons, sugar cone, life size (dimensions variable)

This project is a sort of counter point to my other more serious memorial pieces. I am questioning why memorials are only done to sad events. Why can't we make memorials something awesome?

I am also looking at visual context, what makes a thing a thing? We believe ice cream is ice cream when we see it because it is in a container that says "ice cream" and it has a spoon in it. In fact it is a completely artificial product with no form of its own that is put into an artificial container.

We give it form by spooning it. Everyone is an abstract sculptor for just a second when they pop the top and take that first scoop. That's really what these pieces are about.

About this Project

2007, marble, steel, 48 x 12 x 18 in.

I began thinking about this project while carving at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC. A theme that I realized had never been addressed before in Holocaust Memorials was the loss of people that had never existed at all because their potential parents were killed. I wished to create a memorial not just to those killed during the Holocaust, but to those that never were.

About this Project

2007 - 2008,marble, granite, steel, paint, dimensions variable

Where do the "Black Stars" come from?

Since beginning this series of Uncommissioned Memorials, this question has been asked of me constantly. In the context of the artwork, they come from us, our friends our family, our country. Historically, however, the symbol of the black star (cut in to white marble) comes from the CIA Wall of Honor at CIA Headquarters in Langley, VA. Each star in the wall represents a CIA officer lost in the line of duty. Below the stars, there is a glass-encased book with a corresponding number of stars on its open pages. Some of these stars have names written next to them, some do not. Some of the deaths memorialized on the wall can be publicly acknowledged, others cannot.

I have had the unique opportunity to see this memorial in person. The man who trained me as a stone carver is the current carver of these stars. The man to whom he was apprenticed was the original carver and designer of the memorial.

The black stars in my pieces represent the loss suffered not only by those willing to give their life for the protection of others, but for the intense loss felt by their families. I am fortunate that I have never felt this kind of loss. These works are a thanksgiving for the sacrifice of others, and a penance for the guilt I feel at having the opportunity to make memorials, while never having done anything so selfless or so brave that it bears memorializing at all.