I was raised growing up in a home filled with music, art and art books. It was this early exposure that formed a lifelong passion for art and collecting. As a teenager, my first introduction to ethnographic objects began locally in Marin County California. My friend Alex and I would hike the local creek beds searching for obsidian arrowhead fragments and other artifacts such as stone mortars and pestles from the Miwok Culture. The seed was planted.

Into adulthood collecting art continued and my interests turned to modern and contemporary works on canvas. However, some years ago while planning a scuba diving and cultural visit to Papua New Guinea, something happened and an interest in the tribal art from Oceania began. A new passion took hold.

I reached out to a local tribal art dealer and he invited me to the SF tribal art show; I met dealers, collectors and began learning about the art and cultures that created the art. My interest grew to the cultures of Oceania and the tribal art from this region and I began acquiring Oceanic Art and growing my art library. For me, learning about the ritual and spiritual objects and how they were used within the various cultures is fascinating.