Artist’s Statement

As long as I can remember, I’ve had an interest in making drawings and building things. Up until it was time to choose a career, it was my artistic ability that garnered recognition from my teachers and peers. And yet, as the child of no-nonsense, middle class parents, there was “strong encouragement” to choose a career where there is a decent chance of a regular paycheck. It was probably inevitable that I would become an architect. However, this is not a compromise and I have the good fortune to make art as well… or at the same time. Specifically, my interest is in blurring the distinction between these two practices I love.

Naturally, the work of artists whose work intersects with architecture fascinates me. As a recent graduate working in Seattle, I first encountered the phenomenological work of James Turrell. This was at the intimate Henry Art Gallery on the University of Washington campus. Turrell was the gateway to finding and appreciating works by Richard Serra, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and Michael Heizer.

Architect Louis Kahn famously held a brick up in lectures, asking it what it wanted to be. Similar interests about the aspirations of materials and how they are joined are common threads in my own work. The nature and use of materials is always an important consideration and much attention is given to the way pieces are joined together into assemblies. This is intended to be informative, revealing beauty or truth about a material or fabrication method.

The architectural sensibilities mean that there is a great deal of interest taken in specific conditions found on a site. The work can take the form of creating space, adding to an understanding of the context, suggesting an activity, emphasizing a path or numerous other architectural motives regarding space, boundaries, enclosure or ritual.

Movement

Let’s Play Coronavirus Hopscotch

Let’s Play Coronavirus Hopscotch is a temporary installation in front of our office building that playfully reminds passersby of common sense measures to prevent spreading the disease.

The site is in an up and coming downtown edge known as Film Row - it’s a neighborhood full of young people, where housing projects, cafes, bars, micro-breweries and creative sector businesses are gradually replacing abandoned and under-utilized properties. The form, color palette and font are matched to the architecture of our office building to ensure that the work appears comfortable in its place. 3D printed virus models are provided as game pieces, and humorous admonishments take the place of numbers on the game area.

A Community Microgrant from Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership and ULI Oklahoma provided funding for the project. It is part of a series of works in the downtown Oklahoma City area that welcome workers back, and is supportive of an environment that is as safe as possible while we negotiate life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunflowers

Fabricated of 1/4" mild steel plate and sheet metal and allowed to rust. 12" x 12" x 72" tall.

Automobile Alley Door Tour

Constructions of Watercolor Paper

Analog

Fabricated from a defunct architecture firm’s accounting binder and wood. 48” x 14” x 18” high.

High Tea for two

Part sculpture and part throwback to building tree houses as a child, this project was designed and built for an invited group project at Untitled Artspace in 2007. It incorporate a bench at ground level, and a built-in table with seating at the upper level. Openings subtracted from the simple prismatic volume become functional and expressive; a bench, a portal entrance, voids describing the width of the table and a ladder that appears to be a series of stacked openings from the outside. Constructed of stained yellow pine, it is 6' x 6' x 11' tall.

Photography

There is something about looking through a viewfinder that is instructive about how to perceive the world with discipline. In an age when Photoshop can turn any poorly conceived image into something acceptable, it is a fortunate thing to have grown up using film - one learned to do composition in-camera, being mindful of the costs of film and processing. It encourages one to see with greater clarity and act more carefully and deliberately. As it happens, this way of doing photography relates well to an effective architectural process - putting in the work up front pays dividends in the end. And all the Photoshop in the world can't save the actual building once it's built.

Swap Meet Abstractions

Among other opportunities, there are two antique car swap meets each year in Chickasha. These provide a good reason to get out of town for a day and find abstract art compositions within and among the bits and pieces for sale on the Chickasha County Fairgrounds. Below are some examples.

Golden Boy

"Golden Boy" is a semi-retired 1969 Chevrolet C-10 ranch truck. He is the Hoffner Design Studio factotum/delivery truck - at your service for emergency assignments on construction sites, hauling motorcycles and errands around town. 

Italy

It was a fortunate circumstance to spend a couple weeks in the Umbria region of Italy for a couple weeks in 2011. Additionally, there were side trips to Rome, Florence and Venice. Long story short: seeing ancient structures is inspiration to build in a timeless and authentic way. This is different than false-historicism. maybe a better way to explain is to say that the inspiration is to build honestly - as the ancients did out of necessity - by being true to the function of your building, true to the materials you are using, and expressive of the construction methods you have at your disposal.

Street Details