I am an artist, photographer, and author. I am also a professor at the School of Art at Western Michigan University and an adjunct community professor in the Department of Medical Ethics, Humanities, and Law at Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, where I teach a course I founded called The Skilled Observer in Art and Science. Currently, I am living in Israel and teaching online asynchronously.

My new book, Inventing the World: How Art Creates Reality, was published by Cognella in 2023.

My work as a teacher is profoundly gratifying. I was honored with the 2017 Innovative Teaching Award for developing outstanding online education and the Western Michigan University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014.

I enjoy talking about topics in art, science, and medicine. In 2019, I was a guest speaker at the Mayo Clinic, UCSF Medical Center; the Arts Schools Network Conference; the College Art Association Conference, and the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University. It was wonderful to participate in person at the Conference on Medicine and Religion in Portland, Oregon, in March 2022. More about speaking here.

I grew up in New Jersey collecting minerals and butterflies and visiting Thomas Edison’s laboratories. I earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from The Ohio State University. During the 1980s and 1990s, I ran a photographic business in New York. I was known for my photographic work in Italy for clients including Smithsonian Magazine, European Travel and Life Magazine, The American Express Company, and Alitalia Airlines. I taught photojournalism as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

I continue to work on photographic commissions and self-assigned projects. During 2013-2016 I created a series called “Boundaries of Eden,” photographed with the iPhone 4 and 5, seen in exhibitions in Chicago, Manhattan, and Governors Island, New York.

I love to work collaboratively with creative people in theatre, film, video, natural sciences, and medicine. More about this work is here.