My original youthful survival strategy of learning the primal skills of fishing and farming lead me to Wengen, Switzerland in the late 80's to work for a farmer haying at a steep angle for 5 months. The location is circled in blue. Wild flowers and grass. Scythe, pitchfork and rake. And a motorized contraption that also cut the hay. It felt like being frozen on the side of a huge wave with heaven all around.
I became an artist in 1979 after spending three years as a commercial fisherman in Alaska where I fished for King Crab, shrimp, halibut and salmon on the North Pacific and on the Bering Sea. It was an amazing experience; inspired by sleep deprivation and the urge to survive I began to draw and paint. Prior to fishing I considered myself a writer, soaking up experiences, writing prose, poetry and short stories. I also spent 3 years as a herdsman on dairy farms in Vermont and in Washington state, my thinking at the time was that if I learned to fish and farm I would be a true Irishman, and I would always be able to get a job.
So I experienced the "ancient/primal" occupations. I have exhibited my work in galleries in the US and Europe. In 1991 I had the good fortune of being the first American artist to have an exhibit in East Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Kulturhaus Treptow. My current goal is to write as much as I paint, combine unseen elements - create a big circle for the wind to blow through, causing sound. "There's plenty where plenty comes from."
email:visualmyth@gmail.com
