Born in Oakland, California, I can thank my parents for taking me on summer vacations to the Santa Cruz Mountains where I began to develop a love of nature. Discoveries of the natural world so impressed me that I knew I would pursue a lifestyle that enabled me to be close to nature.

I have always been attracted to rocks, whether throwing them, skipping one across the water, or climbing on them. However, my sculpting career began with the carving of wood. After a family vacation to British Columbia in the 1950s, I was so impressed with the totem poles, I attempted carving one of my own. That was all it took to get me hooked on carving. At first it was just whittling around the campfire on Boy Scout trips.

Then, while working as a naturalist at the Tilden Park Nature Area in Berkeley, in the 1970s, I began to seriously pursue sculpting in wood. The natural world supplied my inspiration, as I created many carvings of birds in redwood, oak, bay, and black walnut. About 15 years ago, I switched to sculpting stone – including soapstone, alabaster, marble, onyx, slate, and sandstone. My inspiration continues to be the natural world, with more figurative pieces appearing over the past seven years. Rocks are the silent sentinels of the earth’s past. Each stone possesses a unique spirit that mirrors its individual creation. While working with a chunk of 300-million-year-old marble, I imagine the incredible changes the stone has witnessed throughout its history. The stone resists each stroke of my hand, reluctantly revealing its mysteries, and finally allowing its inner beauty – and flaws – to surface.