about:

me

Born in Switzerland 1955. Emigrated to Perth, WA, 1990, with Barbara. With my education and teaching experience both in Switzerland (Realschule) and Materials Design & Technology at several private Secondary Schools here in Perth I bring a meticulous and thorough approach to creative woodwork, furniture design and joinery. Since arriving in Perth I have been designing and making many pieces of furniture for our family home. I try to achieve the highest quality possible at every level, in what is visible and what is hidden, and to create unique pieces that can be handed down for generations. A well designed and manufactured piece radiates the love that was put into it. The wood, grain, direction of grain and colour combinations are what make the piece unique and memorable. An important factor is also to keep in mind the environment the piece is destined for, and incorporate complementary features where possible. A beautiful piece is generally simple and has nothing left which could be taken away. From 1995 until 2003 I have combined these developed skills in craftsmanship with my own artistic influence to create one-off picture frames on commission, extending and incorporating the artist’s work/style/motive onto custom made picture frames. At the same time I have learned the Bowen Technique, an Australian natural remedial therapy that resets the body to heal itself. This was so fascinating that I became an instructor of this modality in 2004 in order to introduce Bowen to Switzerland. Between 2004 and 2010 Bowen training has been my mission. From 2010 until April 2022 I was back to full-time teaching Design & Technology. Now I am retired. During my last Bowen trip to Switzerland in May 2010 my friend Paul Steiner, a surveyor and chainsaw sculptor himself, convinced me to try my own creative artwork – self-taught chainsaw carving / sculpting – which I did, and this has guided me in my most creative phase to date. Wood, the medium I spent most of my professional life with has become a medium for Art. I sculpt and also taught talented students “Turning wood into Art” at my school. Art is about life, and particularly visual arts, whether landscape or figurative or abstract, are about life. Wood art has an added feature; it is made from a life form. The artist's medium is a living thing. Wood sculpture is an artist's interpretation of life, but it is also a tribute to the tree and its former life. Trees are ubiquitous. They provide protection and material for much of our modern life but, more than all that, trees are silent witnesses to the events that occur around them. They live for fifty to one hundred years or more and keep a record of all that happens. They are books with a history of their times. Stories hidden deep in the body of the tree are revealed to the artist and have a powerful influence on the art that is produced. With wood sculpture, a passion grips the artist in a final dance with the tree or parts thereof as it is reborn. Often, memories of its former life are evident and add excitement to the new form. I like to think of my role as a collaboration with a greater artist, namely Mother Nature. In this collaboration, I try to combine the beauty that is inherent in the wood with my own artistic statement and to honour the former life of the tree. I tell the tree's story along with my own and, hopefully, give a second life to the tree and keeping the cycle of birth, death and rebirth alive. 

Since 2023 I started modifying my artistic creations and looking into creating wall art as my hands are causing me more and more trouble over time when using power and hand tools or when repetitive manual work is required.

my sculptures (please check out my website's GALLERY)

• are explorations of form, texture and proportion

• move the boundaries of reality

• are intuitive expressions of distorted surreal beings

• are full of simple beauty or contain a touch of quirkiness

• mostly convey the synthesis between the figurative and the abstract, and the real and imaginary

my inspiration

• sculpting is an amazing outlet for creative and artistic energy; it recharges me and balances me as a person

• natural materials, their honesty and the effects that time and use have on them

• a passion for wood to create a body of work that is environmental in pith and unique

• imaginatively visualising collected materials and structures of nature and redirect their life stories

• working in small series, each expressing an idea or concept

• the challenge of using rough tools self-taught (such as chainsaw, carbatec woodcarver, angle grinder, power file, wire brush) to create delicate artwork with contrasting textures

• finding and taking time to make each piece exact

• recycling and wabi-sabi (the Japanese concept of ‘wisdom and beauty of imperfection’), which go hand in hand and nurture all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect

• sculptors like Paul Steiner, Alberto Giacometti, Peter Adams, Willy Verginer, Fernando Botero, Nikki de Saint Phalle, Antony Gormley

my art (please check out my website's GALLERY) 

• a subconscious manifestation of the things that inspire me

• evolving and based on experiences up to this point

• a visual talking point for the viewer with no boundaries for personal and creative interpretations

• a source of pleasure and enjoyment not only for the creator but also for the viewer and new owner

• aims at creating unforgettable works and imparting a deep emotional connection between objects and human beings whenever I begin a new piece

• allows me to produce a niche art that is not only aesthetically beautiful, but one-of-a-kind (thanks to my creative introspection).

• all pieces are dated and signed

• remember: wood is a living medium. It “works”, expands or shrinks depending on humidity and temperature. For this reason occurring cracks and colour changes are unavoidable natural processes (and therefore no reason for complaints). Avoid locating the sculptures in places that are too dry!

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