Biography

I am an improvisational painter in Belfast, Maine. I was born in 1942 into a working-class family in a grove outside small-town Fort Fairfield, Maine on the Canadian border. I grew up surrounded by nature. With no art in school, I taught myself to draw and paint for 10 years, depicting hundreds of animals, people and things I imagined or found in books, magazines and movies.

In 1960 I graduated at the top of my class at Crosby High School in Belfast, Maine. I went on to earn a BFA degree in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, including a senior year in Rome living with an Italian family, as part of RISD’s European honors Program. I spent a month hitchhiking in Europe and northern Africa, and visited the major art museums. Upon my return, I was drafted into the army and spent four years during the Vietnam War as an illustrator for the recruiting command at Ft. Meade, MD, outside Baltimore.

1963 as a student in Rome

While I’ve always drawn and painted, I also had a federal career that deserves special attention, because it greatly influenced who I am and what I do. I left the army to illustrate for the IRS National Training Center in Crystal city, Virginia, adjacent to Washington. In 1974 I became the public information officer in the IRS Baltimore District, highly sensitive because it includes D.C. taxpayers in the seat of political power. Our office investigated Watergate, caused President Nixon to pay another $500,000 in taxes for improperly deducting his presidential papers, and drove Vice President Agnew from office for bribery. I produced thousands of newsletters, news releases, speeches, responses to congressional and media inquiries, public service announcements, and media programs and interviews. I had my own radio and TV programs and originated the first nationwide, tax-help program on PBS Television. I experienced what good government is supposed to be and developed great respect for our civil servants. As a result, I now often write and distribute political commentary to a large following. One op-ed published by the Bangor Daily News in 2015 is still all too true today. I included it under POLITICAL OP-ED.

1970s Tax Help Program on Baltimore Television

During that period, I earned a MSA degree in public administration from George Washington University. I also practiced, studied and taught art, including 14 years of figure studies at night at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, later attended workshops with prominent artists in three states, and visited major U.S. art museums. I married a woman from Vienna, Austria, Susie, and raised a son and daughter, David and Jessica, then was divorced and married my current wife Karen, a childhood classmate.

In 1995 I took an early retirement in Philadelphia as IRS regional manager of public affairs in five Mid-Atlantic States and Washington, D.C. I began to exhibit in earnest and had a prominent 1998 solo show in Philadelphia called “Inside the IRS,” before moving near Charlotte, NC with Karen’s job. I exhibited and taught art there for four years before we moved back to Belfast in 2002. I have since exhibited extensively in Mid-Coast Maine, been on the board at Waterfall Arts and the Union of Maine Visual Artists, and served as President of UMVA.

I now have been in 28 solo shows and well over 100 group and juried exhibits. My work is in private and organizational collections in 21 states and seven countries. I have produced and documented over 11,200 pieces of art.

I hope my Maine roots and extensive study and experience beyond have earned a hard-won gravitas that is reflected in my work.