I love life!

Music and The Arts are large driving forces in this life of mine. I feel they are part of my soul. But People and Nature are also important components. All of them play a balancing role in meeting my needs as a human being. I use 'balance' in referring to the dynamic interplay between my physical and emotional needs.

So, I wish to share some of my thoughts as I was creating "Keyboard Wizardry", because this sculpture embodies all four of the elements above. I see them as the essentials of life. They ARE the essence of life.

The keyboard and the Music so inextricably tied to this instrument, make a powerful visual and sensuous impact. For me, all sounds are a form of music.

Sculpture is the Art form I use, because for me it can be so expressive. I also use wood because it is a warm medium and I equate it to warm feelings.

People 'enter' at several levels. It's not just the direct link between instrument and performer, but the symbolic link to the vastly larger number who attend concerts, or visit galleries, museums and libraries. It also represents those who make us laugh, the teachers who can make such a difference in our life experiences, and our parents who are our first teachers, plus many more.

Nature is symbolized by the wood in this sculpture, which at one time was a living tree. The sound of the keyboard may be a man-made one, but it recalls the sounds of the wind, the waves, or of the living creatures that share our world. When I photographed "Keyboard Wizardry", I deliberately posed it with a sylvan background.

Perhaps the best way to sum up my thoughts, is to share with you the writings of a very famous man. He was not known as a philosopher, but he sure was one.

"The essence of life seems to lie in an affirmative attitude toward the life of all creation. The life of the individual has meaning only in so far as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful. Life is sacred. It is the supreme value to which all other values are subordinate.

"The hallowing of individual life brings a sort of intoxicating joy and amazement at the beauty and grandeur of the world, of which man can just form a faint notion. It is the feeling from which scientific research draws its spiritual sustenance, but also seems to find expression in the songs of the birds." - Albert Einstein.