I started my career in the Army Reserve in Michigan, then went to active duty in 2002. I was medically retired from the Army in 2015.
I’ve always been passionate about art since I was young. I took the opportunity to learn art restoration in Egypt as a student and successfully earned a bachelor’s degree in restoration art and art history (history is my other passion). Fortunately, my wife also loves art, and we motivate each other.

Art helps me with my depression and PTSD. As I became sicker and homebound in 2013, I had to give up many activities. So, my wife encouraged me to do more art. I have done ceramics, piano lessons, guitar, turntable, painting, photography, and wood working, among other things.

Computer science is my other passion. I have designed an ADA bathroom with a CAD program when we remodeled our bathroom. Even though I can’t go places freely, art can expand my possibilities.

I enjoy all kinds of art, but during the last several years, I’ve been spending more time creating photography and digital art. My favorite artist is an American photographer, Ansel Adams. I think he is the best at capturing nature with contrasted black and white.

Our family loves nature, and we would hike many trails before 2013. Today, I can’t casually climb up hills to take pictures, but my wife suggested the best option for me: visiting as many national parks as I can! National park systems have great accessibility, and their websites always have maps. My wife does a lot of research about accessibility, bathrooms, weather, distance from parking lots, and other important information we might need. As long as we plan ahead, we strongly believe we can travel anywhere.

So, we successfully combined passion for art, history, computers, and nature! We go to national parks to take thousands of photos and drone videos, then I spend hours editing photos and videos at home. Thanks to the internet, our family outside of the U.S. can also see our footage.

The art piece I’m bringing to the show will be my photos that I took after retiring.