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HE WAS TRYING HARD TO STAY HEALTHY.

THEY KICKED HIM OUT OF AN AA MEETING

BECAUSE HE BROUGHT IN HIS BACKPACK. 

HE HAD NOWHERE SAFE TO PUT IT.

HE WORE A MASK TO KEEP FROM GETTING COVID. 

He tried hard.

I couldn’t survive living like he does.

I met this man in Lester Park. He inspired the work "Surviving With No Home."

Unsheltered people are much more interesting to me to sculpt than pretty young women.

Our conversations are frank.

They are survivors. I can identify with that.

Most are willing to tell you about their lives if you are respectful.

Their stories are important to me.

Bare bones. Tough.

How do they end up in Utah in the wintertime?

And living outside because shelters have too many rules.

A grant from Ogden City allowed me to create a sculptural assemblage for our shelter, Lantern House.

I listened to many residents over lunch to find out what they wanted to see on their cafeteria wall. Shelter residents modeled for the sculpture. We all had fun!

Kids wanted a sculpture of donuts or a cat, adults wanted money, the mother wanted a home.

“Looking To the Future”  ceramic mixed media  7 feet wide

Installed in the cafeteria at Lantern House, Ogden, Utah   

Caption: Shelter residents told me the things they wanted in this sculpture.

It is natural for me to work against the wall. My relief sculptures are bulbous and project out from the wall up to half a foot. I push up a large clay slab from underneath expanding it to make these portraits. Relief work adds to the feeling of being alive.

I installed the finished sculpture high on the wall, wanting everyone to be able to see it while they ate.

I asked a man sitting across the room if he could see it. He said, “the focal point is just right.” 

DON'T UNDER ESTIMATE THE UNSHELTERED.

It engenders trust.