Prelude

for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday – February 21, 2026

Another blog that I follow and love is Canadian Art Junkie (https://canadianartjunkie.com). Today there was a feature on the work of Frank Gehry. In August of 1969, I was living in Ottawa, Ontario, and enjoying some early success as a woodcarver. The work I was doing was nowhere near what I do today. I had been befriended by an interesting Canadian artist named Ron Campbell. Ron was developing a gallery/ creative space called the Creative Foundation. He saw some of my very early work thanks to a First Nations wood carver who I was periodically working with. Discussions and conversations followed, and soon I had a spot in an exhibit at the Creative Foundation. Ron saw his role as a mentor who piqued my curiosity rather than guided my development. One afternoon he sat me down with some books on the work of Frank Gehry, and I was off to the races. In subsequent weeks I was introduced to Arp and Henry Moore.

The introduction to Moore was playful. In a discussion, I mentioned my interest in Surrealism and mentioned my youthful run-in with Dali. I was running around downtown New York City with some friends, and literally ran into Dali. The Maestro picked me up and told me to be careful. Ron laughed, but two days later introduced me to the works of Moore. He especially thought that Moore’s interest in “Direct Carving” was especially relevant to my interest in the surreal.

Ron’s suggestions were a prelude to several years of sculptural work in surreal sculpture. Until this morning, and reintroduction to the work of Gehry, I hadn’t thought about that work in years.