The title “This Way My Muse” refers to a recurring dream I’ve had since childhood of an enigmatic place that represents for me the idea of a source of creative inspiration. It is a place I’ve only glimpsed a few times, and in these dreams I've gone on numerous quests attempting to return to it. The word “way” in the title has both to do with way in the sense of a path or passage, and with way in the sense of how we approach/go about pursuing or doing something. In the classic Chinese text Tao Te Ching, Lao Tze refers to the “Tao” or the “way” as something that cannot be explicitly articulated, something that remains a mystery precisely because that mystery is part of its essence. Just as the essence of the source is mysterious, the way by which we manifest our individual expressions of this source is also mysterious. In my dream, the place--the way--is only glimpsed for a few fleeting moments, and the rest of the time it is alluded to as the intended destination of various journeys. The images in this collection have as much to do with what is not seen as with what is, with what is suggested, with what is just outside of the picture plane and what parts of the image are unrevealed. My influences are primarily organic forms and architecture that expresses its life and history through its signs of wear, approaching a sense of belonging to the natural world almost more than to the world of man. I am drawn to what is suggested in a form, to what is only hinted at and yet speaks volumes through the weight of its elusiveness. This mystery is the way of my muse.
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