First Teacher
A. Nature and her preservation have motivated my career as an artist from the very beginning.
I learned three things:
• In discovering our interdependence with nature (our natural world) we seek those places where art and life intersect. Nature becomes art and great art aspires toward the natural.
• This grounding in the natural world can lead to a habit of observation and understanding of living, growing things around us.
• A patient, observant interaction with nature can be the greatest teacher and confidante to an artist.
A Dream Born in Nature
B. For a living example of this art in which nature has the power to transform hearts and minds, please follow the development of the Eco Arch in the above section of this website.
Following are four points about the Eco Arch project and its symbolism:
• Acting from nature's true impulse, let there be a riverfront solution that honors the reconnection of the sides of a great river. Let it be a solution that both respects the monumental grace of the Gateway Arch and carries Eero Saarinen's vision across the Mississippi River to revitalize our sister shores there with the unifying power of nature.
• A design to bring enrichment to both shores, honoring the earth and her evolutionary history will restore balance, energy and interest to our shared waterfronts.
• It will not be in vain at such time to hope that prosperity will revisit our shores, when we will have unified Saarinen's dream with that of our indigenous ancestors. Their spirits ever implore us to turn away from destruction and reconsecrate ourselves to the land from which springs all new life, and to nature in its unending capacity to inspire humankind.
• Let the circle of life come around to fullness and thereby fulfill our destiny to give back to the land as richly as we have received.