I can remember touring the Design Lab at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire when I was a junior in high school and seeing Roger Cameron’s work on display, which included snowboard graphics. I was sold on that immediately and presumptuously thought if I could make snowboard graphics for a living I would most certainly do that and be completely content for life.

During my senior year at Plymouth I was on the Oxygen snowboard team, and I sold my art to them through an agency run by Neil Snow, called rM27.

After graduation I drove across the country with three carloads of friends and worked at High Cascade Snowboard Camp, on Mount Hood. I met my future wife, Maegen, who was the camp nurse, my first day as a counselor. Eventually, I found my way into designing the camp brochure, staff/camper shirts around the time we made the move to Portland in September of 2001. I worked part time at a screenprinting shop and kept bringing in snowboard-related clients until I eventually saved up enough to open my own shop, offering both design and production. I rented a space by the foot of the 405 bridge, just down the street from the Widmer Brothers Brewery and called it ‘Extra Medium’.

At Extra Medium I had everything I needed to design and produce T-shirts, Sweatshirts, Posters, Etc. and even built a little indoor skatepark. I subleased an adjacent office area to a couple friends that were starting an outerwear brand, called Airblaster. That year I designed and produced the camp and staff clothing for High Cascade and screen printed items for Airblaster, Salomon Snowboards, Robot Food, NeoProto and a bunch of other early 2000’s snowboard brands. I also kept busy making stuff for bands, local sports teams, etc. but I was getting interested in both videography and renewable energy.

To this day my art has strong elements of Screenprinting and Graphic Design and I’m happy that these formative years make up the foundation of my process.

In the summer of 2000, I became the camp videographer for High Cascade Snowboard Camp and started offering a unique video for each ten day session. For those of you who can’t remember the pre-YouTube days, this was arduously done on VHS (switching to DVD in ‘01). Back then I would shoot on mini DV, edit on a first-generation iMac, and bring the output to a guy in Portland who could pump out a hundred cassette tapes overnight, while I screenprinted the sleeves.

The next summer Steve Van Doren, founder of Vans shoes, bought the camp and added in ‘Vans Skateboard Camp.’ I can remember him coming into my little basement room in the Cascade Ski Lodge to preview some of the edits before I sent them out. He had a happy and uplifting vibe, so it was always fun to work with him and to have his support. Each morning I’d wake up excited to document some of the world’s best snowboarders and skateboarders. I once recorded Ray Barbee playing guitar on the front steps of the lodge and it was such a simple honor to document and use as soundtrack in the videos.

It’s been fun to have videography as a creative outlet ever since those early experiences on Mt Hood. From there I’ went on to tour Europe shooting a documentary for one of my favorite bands of all time, Piebald. Back in Portland I filmed a lot of live music for the Willamette Week and worked on campaigns for New Seasons, DaKine, Clif Bar, Snowboarder Magazine, Shutterfly, Facebook, New York Life, Nike, and York Athletics.

Documenting the world through both 4:3, and subsequently, 16:9 aspect ratio and considering how the viewer would interpret the result built the framework of how I compose art, utilize the rule of thirds, think about depth of field, lighting sources, and color grading. All these years later I still try to keep those lessons at the forefront of my art.

Video Link here

I stepped further off the creative path and into the realm of engineering and adventure when I found out that you could run a diesel vehicle on waste vegetable oil from restaurants. Designing my own system and welding fuel tanks became a top priority for me and I still incorporate metal into my art fairly often thanks to this knowledge base.

I spent close to a decade converting cars, trucks, buses and RV’s off of fossil fuels and driving back and forth across the United States without paying for gas. Needless to say, I have volumes of stories from these endeavors which eventually brought me back to Mt Hood. In 2006 I founded the ‘Greasebus’ shuttle program from downtown Portland to Mt Hood Meadows and managed the service for five years.

Down the rabbit hole, with a side of fries

I got my General Contractors license in 2012 after building a custom Lindal Cedar Home in NE Portland. My wife, Maegen, who was the camp nurse back at High Cascade, stuck with me through all the adventures of Greasebus and together we designed and built our home. We also chose to have two kids at the same time, which wasn’t stressful at all. I had learned a ton about all aspects of construction from my dad, the Andover Skatepark, and the Bureau of Development Services, and enjoyed creating houses, fences, skateparks, coffee shops, travel campers, you name it.

By 2015 I signed on to be the Oregon dealer for Lindal and for the next three years I focused my attention on meeting with clients, doing site evaluations, and producing eighth-inch scaled preliminary plans.

For me, art is just a focused and simplified version of construction. I still buy lumber and hardware, measure and cut materials, and cover them with paint and varnish. My art is like a tiny construction project you can hang on your wall, and no inspection from the state is required, whew!

Here’s a link to a coffee shop project in SE Portland from 2016

In 2019 I was working on the design for a three-story wedding and events space an hour east of Portland, in Hood River. Maegen and I got to talking about raising our children closer to the gorge, the mountain, and the river and the next thing you know we put an offer in on a place just a block from the local middle school.

I can’t remember exactly why, but for some reason the year 2020 wasn’t exactly a great time to be making new friends, shaking neighbors hands, or throwing pizza parties, but regardless I was feeling a little isolated, like socially. So when Maegen showed me a link to a job doing Maintenance for Hood River Valley Parks and Rec I decided I would apply in an attempt to engage a bit more with the community.

I got loads of community connection as I spent all of 2021 in the role. I met a ton of great people, maintained the three pools, the skatepark, the pump track, mowed a million acres, cleared downed trees on the Westside trail, built fences, fixed irrigation systems, and got to cut the first pass of a new extension of the Indian Creek Trail. I threw work parties up in Odell, Morrison Park, Rotary Park and got to drive the tractor and UTV all over creation. I didn’t care for the 5am snow removal, or repeat bouts with poison oak, but overall I really enjoyed working and partying with Gina, Mark, Marcie, Mike, Ally, Daniel, Marcos, the lifeguards, and the crew from Parks & Rec.

I could feel the pull toward my own creative endeavors throughout the year and stepped down from the role to listen to what ultimately felt important for myself. Parks & Rec kept me on payroll as I sat on the panel to find my replacement and I still consult here and there when the pool tent is flapping in the breeze, or a chlorine pump is acting up. Oh, and you’ll still see me leaf blowing the skatepark, which is why Maegen brought the job posting to my attention to begin with.

Life is funny sometimes.