ARTIST STATEMENT Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language, explores the fabric of our urban environment and the patterns that shape and define our ‘Sense of Place’.The physical vocabulary and resulting patterns that define the earth’s surface change with our evolving aesthetic and technological advancements. The result is a continuously transforming Urban typology.
In this series I am specifically looking at orthogonal geometries of urban structure as an agent of geomorphic construction and erosion.Anthropogenic Landscapes have reshaped our natural environment. These reconstructed landscapes continue to be influenced by both natural systems as well as the Social, Cultural, and Technological systems of human occupation.Additionally, Urban environments modify and shape bioclimatic zones unique to these densely populated structures.In 2000, Crutzen & Stoermer proposed defining the period of human influence as the era of Anthropocene, when humans re-shaped the surface of the earth and our atmosphere.
As a species, we do not seek equilibrium. Our ability to record history, information, and technological advancements enables us to manipulate and control our natural systems, forcing an imbalance in a natural sustainable system without technical intervention - we take more than we give back - consequently, we have exceeded the life sustaining capacity of the land we live on.We have created an Urban Ecosystem and geomorphology dependent on the severe modification of distant lands to support our over populated cities.
Urban environments are both shaped by and shape natural environments, and given that over three-fifths of the world’s population lives in these environments, understanding them as a fluid system of additive and deductive forces is critical to the survival of the flora and fauna. Humans have severely reshaped the natural geomorphology of our planet.
I am shifting perception through color and shape that conjures individual memory and experience - to evoke a Sense of Place, and the underlying forces of human development.
As a painter, sculptor, architect, and landscape architect, I enjoy the process of distilling the environment and the world we live in, into a language of color and form; I’m always searching for new experiences that define the cognitive and affective domain of our existence.
RESUME
EDUCATION 1991 Master of Architecture, University of Washington, CAUP, Seattle, WA 1980 Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, University of Minnesota, CAUP, Minneapolis, MN 1974 Theoretical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
INDIVIDUAL HONORS 2003 New American Paintings, Pacific Coast Selection, USA 1982 Prix de Rome, Rome Prize, Finalist & 1st Alternate, American Academy in Rome, Italy 1980 Honor Award: Professional Studies in Landscape Architecture, ASLA 1979 Honor Award: Professional Studies in Landscape Architecture, ASLA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2019 George Billis Gallery - Urban Ecologies: A Pattern Language, Paintings, Los Angeles, CA 2012 Venice Art Walk - Studio Showing, Paintings, Venice CA 2005 Gallery Van Dyke - Ojai Series: Route 66, Paintings, Los Angeles, CA 2005 Berman/Turner Projects: Line, Space, Volume, Paintings, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica 2004 William Turner Gallery, Paintings, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2004 ACA : Anderson Contemporary Art, Paintings & Sculpture, Santa Fe, NM 2004 Venice Art Walk - Studio Showing, Paintings, Venice CA 2003 William Turner Gallery, Paintings, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2003 ACA : Anderson Contemporary Art, Paintings & Sculpture, Santa Fe, NM 2003 Ojai Studio Art Walk - Open Studio, Paintings, Ojai, CA 2002 ACA : Anderson Contemporary Art, Paintings & Sculpture, Santa Fe, NM 2002 Foster/White Gallery, Paintings, Seattle, WA 2001 ACA : Anderson Contemporary Art, Paintings & Sculpture, Santa Fe, NM 2001 Lumina Fine Art, Paintings & Drawings, Taos, NM 2001 Ridhwan Sculpture Garden, Sculpture, Taos, NM 2000 Lumina Fine Art, Paintings & Sculpture, Taos, NM 2000 Booth Contemporary Art, Sculpture, Wakefield, RI 1999 Lumina Fine Art, Paintings, Taos, NM 1999 Booth Contemporary Art, Sculpture, Wakefield, RI 1999 Ridhwan Sculpture Garden, Sculpture, Taos, NM 1998 Foster/White Gallery, Paintings & Sculpture, Seattle, WA 1998 Lumina Fine Art, Paintings, Taos, NM 1998 Suzanne Brown Gallery, Paintings & Sculpture, Scottsdale, AZ 1998 Booth Contemporary Art, Sculpture, Wakefield, RI 1997 Bellevue Art Museum, Sculpture, Bellevue, WA 1997 Foster/White Gallery, Paintings & Sculpture, Seattle, WA 1997 Lumina Fine Art, Paintings, Taos, NM 1997 Suzanne Brown Gallery, Paintings & Sculpture, Scottsdale, AZ 1997 Booth Contemporary Art, Paintings, Wakefield, RI 1996 Foster/White Gallery, Paintings & Sculpture, Seattle, WA 1996 Lumina Fine Art, Paintings, Taos, NM 1996 Ridhwan Sculpture Garden, Sculpture, Taos, NM 1990 Bainbridge Arts Center, Drawings, Bainbridge Island, WA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2018 George Billis Gallery: Michael Braden, Connie Connelly, Bryan Ida, Clay Johnson, Jennifer Joseph & Margaret Lazzari; Culver City, CA 2015 William Turner Gallery – Shape Shift: Michael Braden, Andy Moses, and Gregg Renfrow; Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2014 William Turner Gallery – Shape Shift: Charles Arnoldi, Dawn Arrowsmith, Michael Braden, and Peter Lodato; Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2008 William Turner Gallery – ‘Between the Lines’: Charles Arnoldi, Larry Bell, Michael Braden, Alex Couwenberg, Peter Lodato; Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2007 Riverside Art Museum – ‘Keeping It Straight’: Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA Curator: Peter Frank 2006 William Turner Gallery – Group Show, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2005 Berman/Turner Projects, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA 2005 Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA 1998 WA Grounds For Sculpture, Museum & Garden, ‘In Stone’ Hamilton, NJ 1998 ACA, Anderson Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM 1998 Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, WA 1982 Royal Institute of British Architects, Drawings, London, UK
SELECTED COLLECTIONS Margery & Maurice Katz Collection: Paintings, Los Angeles, CA Maxine Kurtzman Collection: Paintings, Los Angeles, CA Frederick R. Weisman Museum & Art Foundation: Painting, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA World Museum of Wood: Sculpture, Portland, OR HTG Hanse Trading Aussenhandelsgesellschaft MBH: Paintings, Corp. Collection, Hamberg, Germany Hans Schmidt Collection, Paintings, Hamberg & Düsseldorf Germany Alvord/Rhodes Collection: Paintings & Sculpture, Seattle, WA
PUBLICATIONS Artillery Magazine, 2014 World Architecture, Feature Article on Qingdao World Expo, 2012 Artillery Magazine, 2008 The Straight Take, Internet Review: March 2008 Archiworld, Issue 158 - 2008: Published UCI & Tatung Design Art & Living, Painting Review: March 2008 Art Fundamentals, Theory & Practice, 9th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2001, Revised 2006 Artillery Magazine, 2006 New American Paintings, Selected Artist, Issue No: 43, 2003 LA Weekly, 2003 Interior Design Magazine, October, 2003 Art News, January - PP. 118/122, 1998 Art in America, p. 72, April 1998 Seattle Weekly, Review, 1998 Spirit Magazine, Review, 1998 Seattle Times, Review, 1997 Built-in-Furniture, by Jim Tolpin, pp. 122,123, & 137, Taunton Press, 1997 The Star Ledger, Review of ‘In Stone’ 1997 New York Times, Review of ‘In Stone’ 1997 Scottsdale Tribune, Review, 1997 Seattle Weekly, March, 1996 Taos Magazine, Cover Story, 1996