My Story

I grew up in Delaware City, Delaware, playing with star wars figures and keeping an illustrated journal of insects. My childhood was spent inventing fantasy worlds, and it never stopped. I graduated from University of the Arts in 1994, and got a master’s degree from Hahnemann University in 1996, working as a street caricaturist in Philadelphia. While in Philly, I self published comics under the name Immersion Press, I worked as an art therapist in an acute psychiatric ward, I started doing puppet shows with other puppetistas as a part of Puppet Uprising and became Education Coordinator for the Spiral Q Puppet Theater. Through the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, I assisted on several murals and as an illustrator, I created a children’s book about hospitalization and art therapy for Hollister Publications.

In 2002 I moved to Portland, Oregon and started the Mudeye Puppet Company, a name for myself making puppets out of trash and teaching kids how to make puppets out of trash. Through Mudeye I created over 50 original puppet shows, performed at hundreds of schools, libraries and street fairs and received numerous grants from local arts agencies. I opened for Ryan Gosling’s band, Dead Man’s Bones. I built giant recycled sandals for Keen footwear. I created an annual puppet venue called PuppetGanza. I also was part of a group called Metro Murals, that fought against Clearchannel to make murals legal in Portland. When we won, I painted the first legal mural in years, for the School Creative Reuse Action Project (SCRAP).

In 2011 I moved to Beverly, Massachusetts and worked as an Art Therapist for Raw Art Works (RAW) in Lynn. I am the director of the male identifying public art program and run a fine arts studio group for artistically advanced teens. As Senior Art Therapist, I have worked there for ten years and counting. I continue to paint, draw, puppeteer and create to this day.