By day, welding is the skill I have used to earn a living. My welds must conform to the straight lines and right angles of I-beams and concrete. Often I am so focused on the fierce tip of the electrode that I fail to notice the magnificent human and mechanical symphony of the jobsite happening all around me.

At night in my studio, I can weld figures that express the complex curves and stances of daily life. Using literally the same materials as on the jobsite (scrap pieces of steel reinforcing bars), I can work my gas torch to create musculature, instruments, and motion. Essentially, I layer beads of molten steel in the same way that clay is built up in modeling sculpture. Later I use a series of grinders to carve, shape, and finish each piece.

Over the past 28 years I have tried other mediums, but I enjoy working in steel and bronze the best. The internal strength of these materials allows me to capture that instant when a musician is bent over backwards to reach a high note in the “midnight ramble” or a gymnast swerving and twisting on the pommel horse.

I also continue to work in steel and bronze because I really enjoy the welding. I like the “arcing and sparking” of the grinders and electrodes, and the smooth patterns of the orange liquid metal as it follows the blue tip of my torch.

I began welding steel sculptures as a teenager, and my works include dancers, musicians, construction workers, athletes, and Judaica. 

The Arava is the sandy plain of Israel’s Southern Negev Desert, stretching from the Dead Sea to the port of Elat . I lived and worked as a welder on a kibbutz there for three years. I later earned a degree in marine biology, and worked as a commercial diver, marine welder, and pile driver on Boston’s “Big Dig” project. I now work as a representative for Pile Drivers and Divers Local 56 in Boston.

My wife Amy and I and our two sons, Sam and Gabriel, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.