About me…Living in northern New Mexico, in a tiny village amid hills and next to the Pecos River, allows me to interact with nature on a daily basis, in my personal life and my work. Twisted tree branches, gnarly roots, driftwood, rusted tin, weathered wood become material for my nichos. Mostly self-taught in working with wood, I learned through not knowing the correct way to build which gave me the freedom to create my nichos. Now that I have taken some fine woodworking classes, I have gained more techniques yet continue to let my imagination be my main guide.

 I had been an insurance adjuster specializing in fatalities and bodily injury cases but longed to work with my hands. I moved from Kansas to South San Ysidro and back in 1989, I made a couple of rustic little cabinets and showed a neighbor who said “oh, nichos” and in that instant, I knew that was just what I wanted to do.

 About my nichos…These little cabinets are the inspiration of those made by the Spanish colonials in thick adobe walls. They can be used as personal shrines, protectors of treasures or everyday objects or as functional art. Latches are made of juniper or pinon which are laboriously put together so that they actually work. Adornments inside the doors are hand-crafted of tin and other materials.

 Judyth Hill of the Albuquerque Journal described my nichos as setting up “an inviting tension between the secret and the revealed, in both the material and the object” and as being “heartfelt and tenderly built.” Other people have used adjectives of organic, spiritual, rustic yet sophisticated, and even humorous.

 My work can be seen at Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque, Rough Rider Gallery in Las Vegas, NM, Taos Country Furnishings in Taos and New West Gallery in Durango, CO.

 Custom work can be attained direct from me. Prices vary according to size and complexity, normally $160 to $450.