Off the Wall Art

My roots are from the desert southwest along the Texas-Mexico border. While in my early twenties I decided to enroll in the Art Students League of New York to pursue my interest in the visual arts. There I was able to learn from accomplished artist like Harry Sternberg, Ponce DeLeon, Joseph Hursch, and Beverly Hale. After four years I left the League and rented a small studio in Manhattan to apply what I had learned about painting and graphics. It was then that I decided to use my middle name,Cramer, to sign my works. To help me support my efforts I took advantage of an offer to remodel an old farmhouse in upstate New York. At the completion of that project he returned to El Paso and set up my homestead, studio and wood shop. I started designing and producing custom cabinets and furniture which lasted for thirty years. This was at the expense of fulfilling my artwork so I decided it was time to go full circle back to my love of the fine arts. Because the nature of my beast is always on the hunt for new materials and ways to express myself, I started embellishing various skulls with seed beads and also making sculptures with tree roots that I gild with metal leafing.