3.0 Influences

1/6/2015

“If I have seen further (than certain other men) it is
by standing upon the shoulders of giants."
Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Speaking of his dependency on Galileo’s and Kepler’s previous work in physics and astronomy.

As a former high school science and math teacher, I developed an appreciation for the creative aspects of those specific fields. Since no one operates in a vacuum, it is only logical to see that the great insights and developments that occurred in science and math were directly dependent on what came before. James Burke’s two landmark television series Connections (1978) and The Day the Universe Changed (1985) brilliantly showed how these webs of interconnected events led to innovations in science, technology, and ultimately in the way we see our world.

Similarly, in the development of my own personal style of painted art, I have depended on many of the “giants of the past” as sources of inspiration (however humble my own paintings have been). These giants are many and varied, but all have indirectly played a major role in my education. For each of my pieces, I have tried to document all sources and cite all those artists of the past and/or present who have inspired me to paint. What follows is a brief visual listing of those artists, craftsmen, and designers who have influenced my art, in one way or another, for the past forty years.

3.1 Traditional Northwest Coast Indian Art