“Candle Holder”
2020
5x5x12 inches
Made from hand bent fabricated steel, Brooklyn. See Tripolidesigns.com
Ready to sit on a table with felted wool bottom. Holders 5 tea candles.

Artist Statement
I've always been curious person. As I child, I explored my surroundings looking for interesting artifacts. I searched the tide pools and rolling hills, turning over rocks. I'd collect peculiar objects found in nature, bring them home and add them to my display; like cactus pods, fossils, and snake skins and many other beautiful objects. I began to make things from my findings, like a tiny drift wood boat and the challenge was using only what I found in the immediate environment to build my piece. This is still my process of making art today. In 2001 I was selected to be an artist in resident at the San Francisco Refuse and Recycle. That residency was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had collecting and making. The sheer magnitude of interesting, usable materials was staggering. At the present I collect my art materials from the street, from my post consumer refuse as well as collaborate with factories for access to their industrial discards. The pieces are sorted into a visual library that I call my palette. I consider each object a brushstroke with a pre-existing shape and color that I can't change. I use the objects "as is" and combine them into simple compositions or elaborate sprawling installations. The materials become transformed as the referential information of the object's past life is obscured. It is the relationship between the objects and space that causes a subtext of new meaning, leaving the art open to metaphoric exploration.