Twenty years ago, I mounted an exhibition of photographs and videos entitled The Third I (Eye). Conceived by my friend, Terry Parke, it awakened in me the magic of words, images, and artifacts.
The Third I (Eye) … perceives the living energy of the flesh as it radiates from the hands, the feet, or the groin. It embraces chaos of sensation before our learned brains can process the neurons. And when the processing occurs, it leads us … to a world of absence, of retreat and searching. In my early conversations with Terry, he directed me away from the sensible, away from recognizable forms and sounds, away from my search for meaning and understanding.
-The Third Eye Catalogue
Twenty years before that exhibit, I did a project entitled Global Goldfish. There I sought to celebrate experience by photographing and writing about twelve unique places that I visited in my travels around the country and the world. I concluded that meaning is not inherent in a place but lives in our collective and individual experiences of that location. Global Goldfish stood for a mind and eye that sees the world in this context. As we travel and experience diversity, our feelings shift, as Muhammad Ali said, “from me to we.”
In early 2025, I created this website as a platform to present new work. I know that the current landscape of on-line content is overwhelming, but I invite you to explore “other people, places and ideas” that occupy a place on the planet similar or different than your own.
I like to think that we are all born into uncertainty and that our shared purpose is to adapt. I like to think the Eye of the Whirlwind aids us with this task.
To navigate the EYE OF THE WHIRLWIND I have organized the videos into three categories: PEOPLE, PLACES & BEYOND. The writing is the backstory to the video. Together, the writing and video complement each other.
“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap.” — Ani DiFranco
Many of my interests focus on people, and the work they do. The people profiles give me an opportunity to explore what others say and to discover their unique way of processing experience.
“I have not been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” — Susan Sontag
Places we live shape our identity; places we visit expand our identity. We are place-based creatures, living in a world of constructed or natural environments. Traveling expands our horizons, enlivens what we know. New landscapes and cultures have a dramatic impact on seeing our own lives in a broader context. Memories of where we stay or venture is an essential part of personal growth and adaptation.
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” — Mark Twain
My mind often leads me into a world of abstraction. This section profiles ideas that do not fall under people or places and stretches my imagination.
BACKGROUND STORY TO EYE OF THE WHIRLWIND
I began my career in video and sound production. Then content integrated with 3-D design captured my interest. As my professional career expanded, the exhibition projects that Whirlwind Creative designed and produced spanned a broad range of subjects from natural and cultural history, site specific interpretive design, and environmental exhibitions. We created multi-media and interactive exhibits to augment 3-D and graphic designs. In our video and audio work, time-based media directs a narrative and reveals itself in a more deliberate and dramatic way.
Throughout my career, clients came to us with pre-conceived directives of what they wanted and often the design work we did needed to conform to their expectations. For each exhibit, our team works hard in the design process to include media. We believe this makes for a more dramatic and comprehensive experience for the visitors. While my interests have always been wide-ranging, each of our projects challenges me to engage with subjects that I may have bypassed otherwise.
As I realize the physical limitations of our exhibits to include a greater diversity of stories, I sought alternatives. An idea occurred to me: The EYE OF THE WHIRLWIND. This project and website grew out of a desire to work spontaneously in telling stories about people, places and ideas. I wanted freedom to explore more subjects than exhibitions allowed, and I wanted to be more experimental.