I am My Bucket of Parts

I'm a storyteller at heart. 

At first it was novels. Then, it was blogging. Then it was graphic design, illustration, watercolor, ink, and now I play around with video and podcasting. I love it all, and decided I don't need to focus on just one.

Welcome to my digital studio. 

During the day, I'm a journalism/communications teacher. I've been teaching design trends and basic principles of journalism and media literacy to middle school students for over 20 years. Our yearbooks are pretty spectacular. Many of them are featured in the best of show compendium published by Varsity Yearbooks every year. 

My visual arts journey started officially when I started volunteering as a board member for an arts nonprofit in my city of Anderson, Ind. called A Town Center. It's a gallery space that features artists in residence, guest artists, classes, concerts, films and other events that bring the community together through the arts. I currently serve as Board President. I'm also in charge of branding and social media, which you can find here (so if you need help in this area, I'm your guy!)

My fervor for creation lies in digital illustration, ink, watercolor, and anything I can use to sketch (Crayola Crayons are not beneath me). I'm moved by the impressionist movement, the German Expressionism of Tim Burton and the whimsical illustrations of Quentin Blake, to name a few. I have fallen in love with the style of Oliver Jeffers, and I fan-girl to Charleston's artist Nathan Durfee. 

Storytelling influences that have been stuffed into my creative blender go all the way back to young adult authors Christopher Pike and Fear Street's R.L. Stine, as well as multiple viewings on end of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- my favorite TV show ever. I've read "The Great Gatsby" four or five times, each reading a different experience at different ages, and the essays of Joan Didion's "Slouching Toward Bethleham" haunt me. She introduced me to the power of the Santa Ana winds.

I laugh hysterically at the humor of John Mulaney, am awed at the observations of David Sedaris, and while I don't really watch soap operas, I love the melodrama and use it in my own work as a form of satire. 

And I can't ever forget the poop and fart jokes middle-school-boy-humor. There is usually a time and a place, and sometimes, when there isn't, that's when it's the funniest.

With my background in teaching communications, I've led groups of middle school students through branding and content creation, which you can check out here. So, if I can be successful with young adolescents, just think of what we could do together if you need a new logo, look or content created! 

Until then, I'll be over here if you need me!