It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Abandon your Homeland; Frank Birch Tattooed cast rubber, wood table, copper, gold bricks, 24" x 36 inches x 16 inches
Abandon your Homeland; Frank Birch Tattooed cast rubber, wood table, copper, gold bricks, 24" x 36 inches x 16 inches (detail)
"He makes him laugh, 7 a summoning," 8 feet x 8 feet, watercolor, water from the Ganges River and ink on 72 panels. Panels consist of numerous drawings contemplating hexagram 7, the army in the I-ching. The overall form references ancient Yantra images. Embedded in its form I am summoning mythological characters, imaginary friends, friends, family, and monsters to my aid. These were later published as a limited-edition book titled the summoning, inner tai chi by a beginner. The larger panels are other transitions in the book of changes that aided me in these contemplations. The center rectangle is a narrative of them all coming together in sacred spaces real or imagined that was later made into a limited-edition oracle deck.
"He makes him laugh, 7 a summoning" (detail)
"He makes him laugh" detail
"Leaving the body, meanwhile in Coeur d'Alene, I'm not dead yet and other paths to laughing mountain", Exhibition: Emerge Gallery, Coeur d'Alene, ID
Graffitiger, Foreground, 2 feet x 7 feet x 2.5 feet, styrofoam, paint, rubber
"the emperor's head is a window" styrofoam, paint, digital monitor, golden egg. 4 feet x 2.5 feet x 1.5 feet
"Collectively Speaking", Watercolor and ink on paper, suspended on wood cleat. 44 inches x 45 inches
"Collectively Speaking", detail
"Collectively Speaking", detail
"He who knows it all", styrofoam bust of Mark Twain with a Kiss mask. Video of the sun in rotation is visible if one looks into the eyes. Within the tarot deck this character replaces the Hierophant archetype. Or an extreme masculine archetype centered on knowledge over wisdom. The viewer is invited to win the staring contest with the sun. Click image for video.
"He who knows it all" (detail), click image for video
"He who knows it all" Tiger Breathing Bear Tarot card, 5 inches x 2.75 inches
tiger aura, wood, steel, 100 plastic tigers sent to me from friends, tape 7.5 feet x 4 feet x 10 inches.
"The Immortals", 100 drawings from the which way series with a "tiger aura" portal, magnifying glasses, zine and binoculars.
"Empress got a new whip" anti melancholia device", Fabric, wood, resin magic square, tape, durer's solid, light 4 feet x 2.5 feet x 1 foot.
"Empress got a new whip", an example of the drawings realizing as physical objects.
"Empress got a new whip", magic squares detail.
Unhelpful spirit 4, watercolor, ink on paper, 48 inches x 48 inches.
Unhelpful spirit 4, detail
Tiger Breathing Tantra, 45 inches x 45 inches This work is a contemplation of navigating difficult emotions of self and others. This Tank-A series is inspired by Tantric images. These images are traditionally meant to be gazed upon to unlock an understanding of the cosmos, a way of thinking or access to energies. Tantric paintings can often read as western modernist works but are often quite representational, if one knows how to read them. This work is an example where I play within the space of representation and abstraction. I have been packing an image with an abundance of content to provoke an ongoing push and pull between being near or far from the image.t The goal is to transcend the binary mindset and hold both experiences at once.
Tiger Breathing Tantra, detail
Tiger Breathing Tantra, detail
Fly on the wall podcast, click image for link
"31.4 Laughing Mountain" 12 x 15, ink on paper. One of 300 drawings done working toward completing 4096. One for each possible change in the iching oracle. Click image for other examples
"The World card, Tiger Breathing Bear Tarot" limited edition self published tarot deck now used to generate "Which Way Drawings"
"Tiger Breathing Bear Tarot" Limited edition tarot deck, distributed during the pandemic via mail. Click image for examples of all tarot and oracle decks.
"Tiger Breathing Bear Tarot" Limited edition tarot deck, distributed during the pandemic via mail. (back of deck)
"There is no here here", Seattle demolition project, Seattle, WA I was invited to perform and transform a home on the eve of its demolition. Supported by Seattle Demolition Projects, this work served as a haunting exorcism of a space that had once housed several generations of a family. In the wake of gentrification, it had been abandoned and haunted by squatters. This moment of exposure, haunting and healing was the final act in the dwelling. Click image for video.
"the Tower", Tiger Breathing Bear Tarot, 5 inches x 2.75 inches
"Matchbook stories", Each matchbox scale, accordians variable in dimension. With custom Plexiglas container. Accordion stories accompanied by handmade matchbook boxes. Each tells a story of a trek through India.
"The Tower" 7 feet x 1 foot x 1 foot, featured in Terrain 13, Spokane, WA
"ha!; to make the wind laugh", is a flag I made while my father fought cancer. Using his and my, social networks and his from 44 years of teaching this flag traveled to over 75 locations around world activating the wind like a prayer flag and is now a regular icon within my work.
Throne and The May King, Midland college, Midland, TX. 34.4 The May King (detail) ink on paper, 11 inches by 14 inches This work originally conceived using chance operations in 2014. This was a performance where I balanced on a 2.5 foot post while a drummer played in a jazz rhythm and a potter threw 4 pots. Each time I fell the drummer played a solo. After the fourth pot was made and thrown onto the floor we played a record with 3 styrofoam cups enabled with needles on the pottery wheel. Drawing to the right was to catalog the work within the whisper through the veil series.
"symmetry; dance with the devil"". A performative walk from skid row to downtown LA, while wearing 5 radios tuned to different frequencies In this work interacting with strangers changed quickly from welcoming to abject.
"Parade, Panda Style" social breach. For three years I wore a panda suit during my daily run in, Pullman, WA, a small eastern Washington town. This work represented an act of mourning wherein I could process energy while remaining anonymous and it became an adventure where I could follow people's encounters with this bigfoot like experience through social media and the rumor mill. Many did not discover the identity of the "panda" until many years later.
"begin," a temporary installation. A two-sided banner with “begin” printed on each side. The work was commissioned by the city of Seattle and received an award from Americans for the Arts Public Art Network 2013 year in review, National Survey of best Public Art of 2013.
Throne and The May King, Midland college, Midland, TX. This work originally conceived using chance operations . This was a performance where I balanced on a 2.5 foot post while a drummer played in a jazz rhythm and a potter threw 4 pots. Each time I fell the drummer played a solo. After the fourth pot was made and thrown onto the floor we played a record with 3 styrofoam cups enabled with needles on the pottery wheel. Drawing to the right was to catalog the work within the whisper through the veil series.
"34.4 The May King" ink on paper, 11 inches by 14 inches
"To bear; a dance on the snake", I made an 11 foot foam bear and paddled it across the snake river while my children waited with a friend on the shore. Evocative of the challenges we face personally in life this work was a journey across the divide between loved ones. Single channel video was later shown as part of a dinner party installation titled Table for one.
