Art Ramp 1976 Wood 8’x 3’9” x 3’. Claremont Gallery, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA
This is where it all began. I took a course in Grad School from Sound Artist, Michael Brewster, where we were not allowed to use traditional art materials. Our toolbox included Light, Space, Sound, and Kinesthetic Perception. I made this ramp using my construction skills and when I ascended for the first time, I had an “Aha” moment where I realized that I felt secure at the bottom of the ramp, but the higher I went, the more insecure I felt. Would it hold? It creaked as I got near the top and then my options were to jump off the high end, or back down. My first “Experiential Metaphor!” In the art world, one starts with a sense of security after building a body of work. The higher you go, the more work it is to stay balanced and perceptive about your context. The road narrows and you are aware of competing components causing one to feel more exposed and vulnerable.
As soon as I reached the top, I realized the potential for multi-sensory input: Sight, Sound, Kinesthetic perception. These became the ingredients for all of my work since then. I have never looked back.