Raised on a ranch bordering the Yakama Nation Reservation, the artist’s earliest creative influences came from local Native American artists whose visual languages shaped his understanding of symbolism, storytelling, and place. He later earned a BA in Art from Central Washington University and an MA in Art from Eastern Washington University, grounding his intuitive early influences in formal training in painting and sculpture. After teaching fine art for seven years, he made a dramatic shift in service—joining the U.S. Coast Guard following the events of 9/11, where he worked in counter‑terrorism and disaster‑response operations. These experiences deepened his interest in the dualities of human nature, resilience, and the fragile relationship between people and the environments they inhabit.
Influenced by post‑modernism and its embrace of mixed‑media experimentation, his work explores the intertwined concepts of the nature of man and man in nature. His imagery draws from the tribal traditions of the Americas, the mythic visual cultures of the South Pacific, and the stark, symbolic forms of the Arctic. Through layered materials, hybrid forms, and a vocabulary shaped by both ancestral influence and lived experience, he creates work that examines identity, survival, and the spiritual echoes found across cultures and landscapes.
Kalevala Series I – Contemplation of the Sampo
4 x 2
mixed media
Sea Horse
16 x 5
mixed media
Gráinne Ní Mháille
3 x 3
mixed media