A retired Project Manager with a lifelong interest in creating with wood and wood-related products. Recently following another interest in ‘writing’ with the release of my first book.
Retired following a lifelong career as a Project Manager in the Information Technology sector. I discovered an interest in woodworking in junior high school when I had the opportunity to try my hand in the school’s woodworking shop. It awakened a passion that would stay with me all my life and resulted in my setting up a home workshop wherever I have lived since.
Over the years, I have sought ways to meld my woodworking with other interests, such as photography, music, and art, creating pieces that ranged from small home decor items to a custom acoustic guitar, to lighted picture frames, whatever inspires me from time to time. I continue to spend time in the shop delving into whatever captures my mind.
I have also ventured in a different direction during the last couple of years. Following a longstanding passion for books, and more specifically ‘writing’, I set out to author one of my own, which I happily announce has just been completed. The book, titled “Town at the End of the Rainbow” delves into life in Kirkland Lake, where I was born. Kirkland Lake was one of the world’s richest gold camps in its day and I had the great good fortune to spend the first two decades of my life there, during the amazing 50’s and 60’s. It was a time when the town was still riding high on a wave of prosperity spurred by the seven major gold mines that lined its main street and the tales within reflect the joy of that life.
Much of my childhood in Kirkland Lake was spent immersed in nature. The town was not large and standing at any point within its boundary, one could walk to its edge and embrace the Northern wilderness of the Boreal forest within 25-30 minutes. I spent much of my youth surrounded by that wilderness; exploring, learning, pondering life, fishing and hunting, swimming and boating, and just enjoying nature in its immense variety. Those days laid the foundation of a character trait in me that holds nature in high regard to this day. Today, I am very much focused on the collapse of the natural environment globally and what I, as an individual and a family, can do to help stem the damage and aid in a recovery. If not me, then who?
I have always had a deep love and appreciation for ART, and consider it the finest of means that we use to express ourselves. To me, art is a place where people go to seek expression. The artist follows a vision they see within their mind, and expresses it by creating a piece through which they can share their vision with others. The person that buys their piece does so not just because of how it ‘looks’, but because it speaks to them. This is important because buyers seek art as a medium to express themselves too. The art they display within their homes conveys much to all that enter that space about who they are, what they like, and where their mind is at. And the artist’s vision carries on. Kudos to all artists everywhere who strive to create that voice in their renderings. Somewhere out there, someone is listening.