Artist Statement

My work begins with people. Whether I am sculpting a public figure, an ancestor brought forward through forensic reconstruction, or someone who has generously given me their time in a life sitting, I approach each portrait as a meeting between two lives. I have always been drawn to the way history, psychology, and personal story overlap, and my practice grows out of that curiosity. Sculpture, for me, is a way of honouring those connections and giving shape to the traces people leave behind.

My motivations are simple: I want to understand the person in front of me—and, in many ways, the world they represent. Over the years I have worked with individuals from many backgrounds: scientists, authors, political leaders, military personnel, cultural figures, and everyday people whose stories are no less meaningful. Whether I am in a quiet studio, a museum lab, or the private home of a sitter, the work starts with conversation. Those exchanges shape the final piece as much as my hands or the material ever could. I’ve come to believe that a portrait is not only a likeness but a place where character, memory, and humanity meet.

Canadian history has always anchored my practice. Many of my sculptures now live in museums and public institutions across the country and abroad, and I see those works as part of a larger effort to record and celebrate the stories that shape us as Canadians. From contemporary leaders to historical figures like King Robert the Bruce or the First World War soldier Thomas Lawless, I’m drawn to subjects who illuminate something about our shared past—its hardships, its achievements, and its enduring spirit. I consider each piece a small contribution to the country’s visual memory.
Psychology plays its own role in my work. Years of portraiture and forensic collaboration have taught me to look closely and listen carefully. There is a quiet discipline in trying to understand a face—its history, its gestures, its inner weight—and then translating that into sculpture. My forensic projects remind me how fragile and precious our stories are, and how meaningful it can be to restore a presence that time has taken away.

Over the past three decades, my body of work from drawing, painting, pottery and textiles has grown into an evolving record of the many diverse people who have shaped my life and my Canada. I continue to explore how the visual arts can bridge past and present, how it can heal, and how it can keep stories alive and further educate society. At its heart, my practice is about human connection—between real people, communities, and the larger history we all help to carry forward.