“My practice is the development and installation of immersive, site-responsive public sculpture, creating imaginative and activated shared places in all kinds of contexts and topographies. I am inspired by early and mid- 20th century design and the aesthetics of locomotion and scientific innovation, and my work is executed primarily in fabricated steel, frequently paired with embedded LEDs or other forms of illumination. In my work, playful engagement with science, technology, and innovation serves as a compelling means to access imaginative contemplation and moments of shared experience among diverse audiences.
I am the founder of Engineered Artworks, a design/build studio specializing in public art, and Five TonCrane, a San Francisco Bay Area artist collective that completes massive sculptures in an intensely collaborative process. Community artmaking is at the center of my work as an artist, and ensuring that diverse neighborhood representatives–from local youth to regional artisans to municipal employees–have their ideas and opinions heard in an artist-initiated process of community engagement is a value that I bring to the Five Points Park project. As a master fabricator with extensive experience in structural design and project management, I also ensure that the public artwork for this site is being implemented in a safe, durable, and efficient manner, on budget and within scheduling and structural parameters.
Raygun Gothic Rocketship, a collaborative piece that I implemented as Lead Artist in collaboration with the Five Ton Crane arts collective, was installed from 2010-2013 at Pier 14 on the San Francisco Embarcadero, during which time it was featured in publications such as Wired, Popular Mechanics, and the Wall Street Journal. In 2017 the piece was permanently installed at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver. This piece, with its iconic stature and retro-futuristic style, is representative of an aesthetic approach, much like the project I have designed for Five Points Park: An illuminated beacon-like sculpture that references the proportions of the surrounding cityscape while also providing an engaging, pedestrian-scaled place for urban contemplation and spontaneous flights of fancy.”
PUBLIC & LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS
Lead Artist, Kilroy Stars, 2020
Architecturally-integrated monumental light sculptures anchored atop multistory buildings in Seattle,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Commissioned by Kilroy Realty; implemented in
collaboration with Zoetic Digital. Installed November 2019-February 2020.
Lead Artist, Welcome Tower, 2019
Sculptural installation on the Embarcadero’s Pier 14, San Francisco featuring reclaimed hardwood doors
from period SF residences. Implemented in collaboration with San Francisco decorative painter Tania
Seabock. Public/private commission facilitated by Cutwater SF/Unison and Port of San Francisco.
Installed January 2019-February 2020.
Lead Artist, Gertie’s Ghost/Downtown Tacoma Gateway, 2019
Permanent exterior monumental gateway sculpture marking redeveloped transit gateway.
Commissioned by Sound Transit Percent for Art, developed with community members and local
stakeholders. Collaboration with David Shulman.
Lead Artist, The Capitol Theater, 2018
Immersive monumental sculptural space including silent film reels, commissioned by the Renwick
Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Implemented in collaboration with the Five Ton Crane
artist collective. Exhibited at the Renwick Gallery, Washington DC from March, 2018-January 21, 2019;
Cincinnati Art Museum from April-September, 2019; Oakland Museum of California, October
2019-February 2020.
Lead Artist, California State University East Bay Placemaking Commission, 2017
Design, fabrication and installation of permanent exterior large-scale pathfinding and campus name
sculpture; collaboration with landscape architects and engineers in larger campus revitalization.
Lead Artist, Fire Engine 32 ½, 2017
Architecturally integrated sculpture with lighting components, designed and implemented concurrently
with the LEED Platinum rebuild of Fire Station 32. Commissioned by the Seattle Office of Arts &
Culture and developed in collaboration with community members and first responders.
Lead Artist, Storied Haven, 2015
Immersive sculptural space, in collaboration with Bree Hylkema and the Five Ton Crane artist
collective. Fully furnished library interior. Permanently installed in 2018 at Paradise Ridge Winery
Sculpture Park, Santa Rosa, CA.
Contributing Artist/Fabrication Manager, Burrows Street Park, 2014
Design and fabrication of placemaking elements in permanent installation in San Francisco parklet and
arcade, in partnership with Rebar Art & Design Studio and Architecture for Humanity.
Artist Fellow/Artist in Residence, de Young Fine Art Museum of San Francisco
Urbanauts, in collaboration with Matthew Passmore, 2012-2013
A series of exhibitions, interactive works, expeditions, and public conversations in an examination of the
mechanical systems that structure life in the built environment.
Lead Artist, The Nautilus, 2011
In collaboration with Five Ton Crane artist collective, immersive sculptural interpretation of The
Nautilus submarine from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Permanently installed in
the private collection of the Bently Foundation, San Francisco, CA, in 2015.
Lead Artist, Raygun Gothic Rocketship, 2009
Immersive rocketship beacon sculpture, executed by the Five Ton Crane artist collective, exhibited
2010-2013 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero and permanently installed at the Wings Over the Rockies
Air & Space Museum in Denver, CO, in 2017.
Artistic Director/ Lead Artist/ Project Manager, Steampunk Tree House, 2007
Monumental immersive sculptural space featuring functioning steam calliope, created in collaboration
with Five Ton Crane. Permanently installed at Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, DE, in 2010.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
• Oakland Museum of California: Capitol Theater, October 2019, Oakland, CA
• Cincinnati Art Museum: Capitol Theater, April 2019, Cincinnati, OH
• Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum: Capitol Theater, March 2018, Washington DC
• Hermitage Museum and Gardens: Storied Haven, 2017, Norfolk, VA
• de Young Fine Art Museum: Charismatic Expressions of a Microscopic World , June 2014, San Francisco, CA
• Beakerhead: Raygun Gothic Rocketship, September 2013, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• de Young Museum: Urbanauts, residency and fellowship, 2012-2013, San Francisco, CA
• On the Move – An Exploratorium Roadshow: The Nautilus, March 2013, San Francisco, CA
• SFMOMA Window Galleries: Five Ton Crane group show, 2012-2013, San Francisco, CA
• Burning Man: The Nautilus, 2011, Black Rock Desert, NV
• Yuri’s Night: Raygun Gothic Rocketship, 2010, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
PROFESSIONAL ROLES
May 2014 – Present: Founder and Principal Artist, Engineered Artworks, Oakland, CA
2007 – Present: Co-Founder, Lead Artist, Project Manager, Five Ton Crane Collective, Oakland, CA
EDUCATION
2011, BA, Practice of Art, College of Letters & Sciences, University of California, Berkeley
