In the Swedish language, a verkstad is a workshop or laboratory. While in Sweden, I grew up in the company of my fabulous grandfather and wonderful uncles - inventors, designers, engineers and fabricators - who happened to also build world-class wooden boats. They created amazing products in their verkstad, a place that doubled as an important center of community life. Neighbors dropped in, the coffee pot was never empty, and the exchange of ideas was always lively.With this as our model, every place we’ve lived has also doubled as our studio. The rhythm of the everyday is welcomed, as it bastes itself in and out of our creative process.

I am the product of a bi-cultural upbringing. My youth was spent mostly in Colorado, but my world view and artistic sensibility are highly influenced by experiences with my people in Piteå, Sweden. I grew up among “makers” who were perpetually engaged in the world of ideas and the activity of creating; a family of great stories and greater storytellers. My work is direct and often aimed at a nerve. I mine the tricky underside of life, pairing it with cultural expectations, measuring the chasm between the two. This gap becomes an index, where new stories about our shared humanity can be created. Art that begins in this way can serve as both a healing force and a shield against encroaching social isolation. Autobiographical themes can jump the fence and connect with others, becoming more about shared experience than about the self. My stories are no less painful than they are common to everyone. I believe art can help process both world and life events. It encourages change, active listening and understanding.

I was first exposed to art in elementary school, through the miracle of collage. It’s a form that is at once tactile, immediate and surprising. Its myriad possibilities made from torn magazines, glue and scissors must be what makes it such a hit with children, and I was no exception. I have since become a staunch believer in the proverbial skinning of the cat. Just as there is said to be more than one way to do that, I believe in the potential of any medium to transmit meaning and describe solutions that fit any idea. So it is that I follow my ideas where they lead, in any medium they demand. My work has been exhibited widely, and my debut album, Regular, received praise in several national publications. I live and work in beautiful West Seattle, with my lovely bride Monika and our three tiger cats, Howard, Junior and Mr. Jimmy.