There is a strong western vibe in your art. Being a boy from Virginia, what drew you to this aesthetic? Did it inspire you to come to Colorado?

So the question is: why is your art so western if you grew up in the east? I create my art like all poets and writers and musicians create their work: I move from place to place and try to make sense of the symbols, the theology, the trash and the treasure, and then I seek to create icons out of the myths and legends of these places using any material at hand.

Your second question: Did it inspire you to come to Colorado? I don’t think so. I believe you move somewhere because you have to, because you love or hate people, because someone dies or leaves or goes away or is born, because you are sick of the city or because you are lonely in the country. It wasn’t inspiration that drove me to move here. I can be inspired by a stick in a bowl of soup. I moved to Colorado because I couldn't spend any more time walking on concrete in the big city and because all of my artwork needed a place to grow. Plus I like to look at moving water and I like the fact that mountain lions still live here.