Damaged Goods just went up in the Surdam Gallery. The show will run two weeks. I sold about half of the pieces during the opening, if people are still interested in purchase pieces befoe they come down from the gallery, please contact me at skinnerm@greenmtn.edu, I will forward you a price list...

Its good to finally have the show up and completed. There are things that I would change now, but I am really happy overall with the way it turned out. Having Pat weld the frames out of iron was a great idea, I think they complement the work very nicely. Not bad for my first time working with cast iron frames! This whole process has really made me think about my art and the direction I am headed. I am toying around with a potential new body of work centered around dreams and nightmares. I will keep you all posted.

Please take a look at the Damaged Goods collection and provide me some feedback! It would really help me out! Here is the artist statement (go easy on me, its the first one I have ever written):

What is damage? Is it done to people and things, or to reality itself? People, places, things can be damaged physically; however there is another kind of damage, one that moves beyond what is tangible. Damage is part of darkness, yet it holds a beauty one I find mysteriously captivating. And while some strive to hide their damage, my work seeks to expose and reveal how we are all broken; missing pieces that make us whole.

I draw inspiration from artists like David Lynch, who explores the darker side of small town life, and the damage it causes. In his films, Lynch creates a dreamlike tableau that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Similarly, I attempt to weave a sense of mystery and surrealism in many of my works. Through plays of light, and emotion my work explores this rift out of which darkness seeps. The otherworldly qualities of Lynch’s work haunt my own nightmares where much of my innovation comes. These nightly visions contribute to the conceptual aspect of my work. For me, they act as guides.

This exhibit is influenced by the damaged spaces that occupied my waking life, and subsequently became fuel for my dreams. I hit the streets of downtown Los Angeles to find spaces that embodied the west coast aesthetic. At night I retreated inward towards imagination enveloped in the spaces left forgotten. I felt tied to these places, because I felt what they exuded. Darkness can be a scary place, yet, for me, damage and darkness are not negative. On the contrary, I believe damage carries a weight that is alluring. To be damaged is to be vulnerable, to be open to experience in a way that few are willing to be.