I joined the S.U. Independent Degree Program in Illustration in 2005 after 20 years of working as a graphic designer.

This piece was inspired by a class project to depict Sky Chiefs baseball. I love baseball as a game but also because of the theatre, the performance the game projects. I love catchers in particular as their costume, their stance is somehow like that of the Japanese kabuki. So, assuming my graphic hat, I came up with this illustration to capture that moment.

When I was in Syracuse University's Independent Study Degree Program, we were assigned an illustration of New York City after we visited. I did not want to create an image that captured common images used to express the city. Instead I did a group of 12 illustrations that captured aspects of the New York I knew from my time living on the West Side.

I was familiar with people congregating on stoops together -- people in the neighborhood mixing and meeting. From that came the concept of the people and culture from the street, which drives so much of the music, art and fashion we see. I created this illustration as an outgrowth of that work suggesting the liveliness and activity the street drives.