Mark Twain is credited with this: “The two most important days in a person’s life: the day they are born and the day they find out why.” For me that day came in early January 1971. I had recently graduated from Hobart College and after four winters in upstate New York I had one overriding thought: “I’m going to the Caribbean for a while.” Finding myself on the island of St. Croix I was hired as a lifeguard though in the very brief job interview the question of whether I could actually swim never came up! They’re pretty relaxed down there-“Don’t worry be happy” comes to mind. The beauty of the surroundings inspired me to paint (something I was always pretty good at but never thought of it as anything but strictly a hobby). Finding no art supply store on the island I was compelled to seek an alternative means of artistic expression. Serendipity came to the rescue in the form of a furniture maker working in the rainforest named Fletcher Pence who had worked with George Nakashima the inventor of “live-edge” furniture. “Well,” I thought, “if I can’t paint maybe I’ll try woodcarving.” So I went to him, borrowed a mallet and a carving tool and purchased a piece of mahogany. The next day on the beach with no expectations I struck the chisel with the mallet one time. Instantly something happened inside of me. “This feels terrific!” I thought. By the end of that day I knew that my purpose in life was to be a sculptor. That was the day I found out the “why.” I never took a class and never went to art school. I just seemed to know intuitively how to sculpt: from various hardwoods to stone carving, marble carving to modeling in clay and casting in bronze. Ten years after that first carving I found out how this might all work. Shortly before she died I had a wonderful conversation with my 92 year old maternal Irish grandmother and discovered from her something that I had no knowledge of: that her grandfather was a marble sculptor!
Returning from the islands and informing my parents of my desire to become a sculptor was not received with great enthusiasm needless to say. After much traveling I had moved to Stowe, Vermont where I met my future wife. She was an Alpine ski instructor and I was a Nordic ski instructor at the Trapp Family Lodge and for the two years I was there was Maria von Trapp’s personal instructor. We were spending the weekend at my parents house in Bedford New York before heading back north to Vermont. Fearing that we might well starve to death, my father offered me a job in his company. That night I had a vivid dream-like vision of my possible future: I had reached late mid life and had taken that job, had become president of the company and had done very well financially but I was absolutely miserable. I knew too late that I had wasted the gift that I had been given. The next morning I thanked my father for the offer, declined accepting it and said: “I don’t know if this will work but I have to at least make the attempt.” With that we headed north in our ‘54 Chevy with $500 we’d scraped together to pursue my dream of becoming a sculptor.
Joseph Campbell author of “The Hero of a Thousand Faces” and “The Power of Myth” and long time professor of Comparative Mythology at Sarah Lawrence College famously advised: “Follow Your Bliss”. His meaning: “align your life with your deepest sense of purpose joy and authentic calling.” Campbell reminds us: “hard work and difficulties are still part of the journey.” Financial difficulties and dubious prospects were certainly part of our early journey. Fortunately my wife Gretchen never pushed me to “get a real job” and was always supportive which absolutely helps. One day I opened our checkbook to discover that we had $36 left to our name! “How will we pay the rent next month?” I wondered. Once I recovered from the initial shock I said to my wife: “Well this won’t take us very far anyway so let’s go out to dinner.” (back at a time when we could have a very good meal for two at our favorite restaurant for exactly $36!)
After hard work and difficulties Joseph Campbell tells us: “unexpected opportunities and people will appear to help us along.” Happily for more than 40 years that has been true for us. We have many people to thank who have helped us along. In closing I would share a quote from one of my favorite sculptors Michelangelo: “The greater danger is not that our hopes are too high and we fail to reach them but they are too low and we do.”
Post Script: Recently (October 24, 2026) I was greatly honored by my Alma mater, Trinity-Pawling School, by being inducted into their Arts Hall of Fame. In my remarks at the induction ceremony (which was composed of much of the above) I mentioned this additional anecdote: To coincide with my class’s 50th reunion, I donated to the school a bronze model of the monumental sculpture I was commissioned to create for US Lacrosse/Lacrosse Hall of Fame in Sparks, Maryland. At the unveiling ceremony of that model 10 years ago I mentioned (sarcastically) that one of the highlights of my academic career while at Trinity-Pawling was that it took me three years to get through two years of Spanish. So in my senior yearbook my Spanish teacher, Senor Noble, wrote prophetically next to his picture: “Be an artist don’t take Spanish!” Gracias Senor Noble for so accurately predicting my future: I have been an artist and I never mastered Spanish.
