Resume
- Former Navy Seabee
- Union Iron Worker in Chicago since 1997
- Erecting & Welding Structural Steel utilizing heavy equipment and rigging at great heights
- Began working in discarded objects and steel sculpture in 2015
Artist Statement
- Steve earned his way into the Navy Seabees, a combat support unit that started in World War II building runways, repairing roads, and building infrastructure in combat zones.
- Steve has a background in a wide variety of construction skills from carpentry to cement finishing, heavy equipment repair, welding pipe and structural steel.
- In 2014 Steve began to develop his skills as an artist by dismantling worn out machines. He took apart typewriters, sewing machines, and garage door openers, when he couldn’t sleep from nightmares. He riveted and bolted together pieces he harvested, and began to create small pieces of art.
- Steve purchased a welder for his garage workshop and really started to put together his earliest scrap metal sculptures.
- In 2018, Steve showed his work for the first time publicly in an art show for Chicago Veterans Art Initiative, followed shortly after by his first experience in an art gallery in Morris, Illinois.
- Steve finally found a way to focus his racing mind and occupy his shaking hands and was finally able to regain a sense of confidence and enjoy sharing his art with others.
- Steve had his work on exhibit at Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Veteran Art shows in Texas, Denver, Chicago and Michigan. He created artwork from the famous Old Joliet Prison that is on display in the Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery.
- Steve won a national award in 2019 for using art as therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He has found a healthy way to focus anxiety into art, and a way to inspire other veterans to pursue art and music.
- Steve continually searches for new opportunities to share the healing power of my art with the world.
Exhibit Highlights:
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”153″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″]
Visit our website to learn more about our first Virtual Art Exhibit: Inspirations From The Found and The Sound
