My Story

I was in the Air Force when I was younger. I was a Hebrew linguist but one day directed by my commanding officer to dig through dumpsters in search of classified material that had escaped the building. These were giant, nasty dumpsters, but my rank was low. I don’t think we ever found the material they were after. Well, I’m still digging through dumpsters. Actually recycle bins mostly, which thankfully are not that nasty. My digging now is for colors — the colors of consumerism, which is our way of life.

I had an early interest in lasers. I did a science fair project in middle school on them — Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. I built a model of one, for demonstration purposes. But what I really longed to do was build a real one and make holograms by placing the subject within a perimeter of mirrors and bouncing the laser beam around the object to take a 360° snapshot. Well, it was more a dream than a reality as I had neither the smarts nor the equipment to pull it off. I did, however, buy a beautiful hologram of a monkey in the gift shop. See I told you consumerism is our way of life!

When it comes to cutting up paper, my biggest inspiration genetically and as a child was my grandmother. She practiced the German papercutting craft Scherenschnitte, ‘cutting with scissors’. She produced intricate work with heartfelt content. Her immaculate taste guided her in finding the perfect frame. A calligraphic dedication always adorned the back.

My love of trees and woodworking was inspired by my father, with whom I continue to work in this area (I spend summers at his lumberyard-sawmill-wood kiln-woodshop). As a child, he taught me how to turn a candlestick on the lathe, how to use basic hand tools, and generally how to get things done by consistent hard work, and “out-smarting” with brain power whatever physical problem arises. He has also taught me to “let the machine do the work” — when it comes to power tools, shop machinery, forklifts, etc. I’ve applied the same sentiment to my use of computers and the laser — let them do what they are good at. Expend my energy on things they can’t do — design and aesthetics, quality control, meaning, etc. Thus, I let the laser do most of my cutting (Laserschnitt). I typically only do raw material shearing and touch up work with scissors — which are still indispensable in the process.

I believe I am following my calling by combining these influences in my creative work. I hope you enjoy browsing though my website and watching my development. I will continue to add works regularly.

I could not do this without the support of my life-love Tracie and my art patron Melissa, mother of our beautiful child James — who gives every indication of having the best eye and visual sense of us all!

Ivan